


What's fun without a little pain?

by NoWaifuNoLaifu



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Disturbing Themes, F/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Original Character(s), PSTD, graphic description of violence, lots of swearing, mentions of past rape, non-canon origin story, slight Flug x Demencia, some ocs to get the story moving, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 06:55:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18310466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoWaifuNoLaifu/pseuds/NoWaifuNoLaifu
Summary: Proving your self worth is never easy, especially when your boss is THE Black Hat.A continuation of "Welcome to the Organization"Updates every first of the month.





	1. Prologue

It has been almost a week since Demencia joined the Black Hat organization.

Almost a week since she woke up, leaving that God-forsaken cellar behind.

And around that same week, horrible visions that could only be adressed as nightmares began to plague her already disturbed mind.

Actually, that was an understatement. She faced enough nightmares in the past to know how they truly looked like. It would be more accurate to label them as: _“the annoying voices that wouldn’t let her rest"._ A spinning mess of bright colors, a chorus of guttural screams each time she closed her eyelids were her everyday oniric scenarios. Red splatters appearing randomly over the memories she held onto, slowly dripping down and tainting all the faces she used to know. The girl had been so sure back then that killing the man who hurt her would bring inner peace to her heart. That the fear and pain, much like her wrist scars, would fade away eventually.

She expected to sleep like a baby immediately after, not waking up at the ass crack of morning drenched in sweat. Demencia never considered feeling this awful for what she had done.

At first, it didn’t really felt like she had to do _something_ to stop them. It was all on her own mind and to be honest, getting bad dreams from time to time was not that uncommon in people with past traumatic experiences. But these were completely different from what she had heard before. Her memories were too vivid. Too realistic to be mental fabrications. She even recalled how her cell smelled like while she was in that trance. Gruesome images inside her head wouldn't stop playing, and the screams would never stop ringing in her ears. Heck, at one point she even began to miss the “ _dozing off juice_ ”  James used to inject her with.

Sighing, she tried to turn her face to the side of her pillow that was still cool and fresh.

The ravenette didn't feel like pondering on the subject anymore since it wouldn’t do her any good. More often than not, introspective analysis like these would make her nervous and anxious. Too self-conscious...which meant back to square one. If she was going to truly make a change in her life, she had to let those memories slowly rot away and let the flies of her new found boldness eat it all away. She would face them at her own pace.

Nights like these were the perfect scenario for intricate, philosophical inner battles, however, lately they came whenever her guard was down. When she didn't had a distraction or medicine to help her sleep. The hardest part was trying to pretend she was alright to the other members of the manor, which only made her feel even more pressured to deliver a certain type of behavior instead of actually working on her issues. A snarky reply to each concerned question about finding blood or hair chunks on the bathroom sink. A spiteful glance if someone other than Black Hat touched her. A fake smile for each time they asked if she was okay.

Her heart was still vulnerable, and while she knew none of those things that scared her could reach her anymore, the filth she felt within herself couldn't be washed away that easily.

No matter how much she willed herself not to think about it and just make it through the day, her stubborn brain just wouldn’t listen to her commands. So, she started to lose sleep hours trying to keep herself busy with other things to make the whole remembering process less painful.

" _Other things_ " immediately translated into playing nasty pranks on Flug or 5.0.5.

There weren't many chores to do in the house for her  since most of them were the blue bear's job. Flug's work was so complicated it was best to leave him alone with his mumbles and plane scale models. Soon she found herself with a lot of free time on her hands, and nothing to kill it with.

Now, unlike the scientist, she wasn't able to craft a deadly ray nor a super magnet device, but she still remembered how to make a mean lasagna, so after raiding the pantry she thought it was a good idea to try and cook it for the gang as a " _thank you for not letting my sorry ass die_ " gift. Unfortunately, she somehow ended up creating a giant cheese monster that ate, at the very least, 1/4 of the manor's total area. How was she supposed to know that an ancient evil spirit was canned inside that tomato paste container?! The paper bag head should really work on his labeling skills.

Since then, she got banished forever from the kitchen and had to find another way to entertain herself that didn't involve cooking, knives, fire, gas or cheese. Also, they had baby-proved the whole house just to keep her away from releasing any other ancestral beings, which she also appreciated.

Dememcia thought that being a henchman would involve some heavy ass work, but truth to be told... she didn't get any assignments, unlike the others. It made her feel so useless, having nothing to do but rest up and heal her wounds. Apparently, she was “ _damaged_ _goods_ ” for the time being, so her priority number one was getting back to her top shape. Yesterday she had tested her strength carrying some sandbags on her back and was kind of shocked _(and quite pleased)_ when she realized she could easily lift a pair with each arm without even breaking a sweat. The young female had to admit, the scientist sure knew how to make good healing drugs.

When she asked her boss if there was anything she could help him with, he had replied dryly over the oversized newspaper he was reading, not even bothering to spare a glance towards her:

- _"You are now a resource for my evil proposes, however until you find something unique you can give me, I suppose your treatment must be dealt with first. You are almost fully recovered, so starting next Monday I will give you one month to prove your worth, Demencia. I don't keep strays_ ".-

So, now she had kind of a trial to face, and down to roughly 3 more weeks to prove she was worthy of staying. More precisely, staying by _his_ side.

Sort of.

She had a lot of mixed feelings about her boss, but she definitely admired the male. He was ruthless, egocentric and kind of an asshole, however, she could sense something more. There was something primal about him that made her skin get small goosebumps when his deep rich voice called for her. Each time he scolded her for being _"too loud_ " or " _too annoying_ " she felt the ** _need_** to gauge even more out of him. The girl wanted to see more of those dangerous bioluminicent teeth. Drink all his features and print them on her mind forever. Hell, his mere presence made her feel wobbly on the knees which made absolutely no sense.

Black Hat was her saviour. Her idol. Her god.

He didn’t have any particular handsome attribute, at least not by human standards. However, the way his body language spoke _reeked_ of confidence. His stand was proud and elegant, the clothes he wore were kind of an odd choice, almost anachronistic, yet he pulled quite a sexy clean classy look. One would think that after her traumatic experience she would have lost all interest in men whatsoever, but it was exactly because she was already used to be abused that his constant name-calling and slight torturing towards her persona was… rather welcoming. It was messed up, she was aware of that much, although she had to give it to him… Black Hat did come with the most creative ways of delivering punishment.

It was clear to Demencia that his needs were always first. Like a pampered little rich brat, he would throw a tantrum if he didn’t get what he wanted, yet his perpetual frown had some charm to it. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why she had stayed at the Black Hat Corporation headquarters. The twisted promise between them, sealed over that steamy first encounter, was not lost to her.

 _Destroy every single fucking hero and all they meant from the surface of this realm_.

Rolling to her left side, she glanced at the clock on her empty nightstand.

It was nearly 3:14 am and all the lights inside the house were still out. The huffing sound of the garbage collector truck the only thing disrupting the tranquility of the moment.

At least she got the city-suburban noises to calm her down. To remind her she wasn’t alone, and that was quite a blessing itself. Staring at the ceiling of her new room, she absentmindedly started to chewing on a loose strand of hair.

Music used to be her only outlet to the world, but right now he didn’t have the budget to actually buy materials to tune anythkng, let alone _having_ any kind of instrument. The viola was her main and favorite. Actually, any instrument with strings was bound to be of her liking, but then again, she was dirt poor right now. Her only belongings were the things Flug found on the garbage cans of Hot Topic and some underwear she managed to get ~~shoplift~~ from the gas station nearby.

Right now she looked like a rebellious overgrown teen going through a punk-emo-grunge phase, and she couldn’t care less. It actually somehow suited her new crazy persona. It kind of reflected the whole mess she was on the inside, lacking any kind of consistency. Besides, the black haired girl would rather wear striped sleeves and stockings instead of just a lab coat and a pair of shorts while she lived surrounded of, what she assumed, were mostly males.

It felt so weird, living in the same place of a pair of guys she just met a week ago. Eating with them and sleeping under the same roof. Demencia was actually pretty grateful because not only she had a comfy bed to sleep in and 3 meals per day, she also started warming up to her fellow partners in crime, which was awesome since she had tought her social skills had been lor ever lost on that cellar.

Flug, or how he liked being referred as:  _Dr_. Flug, was the first one she tried to talk directly to. After all, he looked less threatening and to be honest, she was pretty sure she could easily punch the living daylights out of him if he got too handsy. At first, he had been really awkward about the whole situation, which didn't exaclty make things easier. Especially since his room was just across the hallway and they both had to share the same bathroom.

She got to know him better when she found out his “ _secret_ ” lab, aka the basement.

When she was first brought into the manor, her vitals dropped down rather quikly when a sudden fever attacked her body. The bad nutrition, added to her infected wounds and lack of movement for so long had taken a toll on her body. The only thing she could remember after passing out on her boss' arms was a flash of green and cold metal pushing her back, the blinding white lights of what looked like a reflector and the ripping sound of her clothes to take a closer look to her damaged lower parts. Flug took care of her for hours, with the assistance of 5.0.5, trying to keep her warm and controlled.

When she had regained consciousness, she was already on her own bed, with serum dripping inside a little transparent bag attached to her right arm. She had vowed to find the lab again, just to satiate her curiosity and mostly to spice up things on her rather bland schedule of nothingness.

His lab was a spotless place. It reminded her a bit of an OR, like the ones one would see on the TV. Wide, antiseptic and obnoxiously bright. Inside there were a few big sized machines, buzzing with life and creating a strange humming that somehow calmed her down. There was also an espacious plain white table a large variety of colorful fluids, most of them fuming little puffs of clouds on different sizes every time and to the side the metalic plataform she assumed he had used as a makeshift medical bed. When she found the room again, the first thing that caught her attention was the gigantic chalkboard covering the main wall on the back, right behind his desk.

Almost immediately she grabbed a few pieces of chalk and started doodling a bit. At first simple stuff like smiley faces and rainbows setting themselves on fire, just to add a personal signature. But then she got a bit bolder and tried to draw 5.0.5, the adorably deadly blue bear, eating a human head. Her imagination had always been a tad bizarre in comparison to other people her age, which only added to the pile of things she had to remove from her personality to fit in when she was still attending to the Conservatory.

She also tried making a cartoonish Flug getting blown up into pieces, his head flying away while his body still trying to mix up some chemicals trying to emulate what she thought was a common accident working as a mad scientist for… the devil? Demencia wasn’t all that sure just _what_ or _whom_ Black Hat truly was, but that was something she would not dwell on for now since it seemed quite pointless if she ended up kicking her out anyways.

When she was finished, it was necessary to take a few steps back to fully appreciate her masterpiece. Inspiration had struck her heart and without even noticing, most of the chalkboard surface was already filled with her drawings. She definitely didn’t hate Flug, but still thought that messing with him like this it was hilarious. She knew how anxious he got around his deadly cocktails.

By the time she was adding the final touches, the scientific already had returned and started to freak out, because apparently, she had erased some important formula while drawing. She was about to tell him that maybe if it was so important he should have considered writing it down in paper or something, but instead...

-”And that is NOT how a body looks like when it’s exploding! And I should know! I’ve made some stuff and people blow up too!”-

And just like that, he admitted he killed people too.

She just gave him a vicious grin while supporting her back against the part of the chalkboard that wasn’t being used. This was so amusing. He was easy to mess around with, teasable beyond the limits. No wonder why Black Hat enjoyed making his life miserable, yet, the frail appearance he carried made no justice to his true evil genius. He was beyond talented, that was for sure, and much like every other villainous cliche, he was unable to unleash his full potential due to his lack of spine.

-”Show me how to do it right then, nerd”- the affectionate nickname rolled off her tongue rather easily. With an offended snort he replicated " _Grown up people don't play stupid little games"_ , to which she replied chuking the piece of chalk directly to his face with a " _Only_ _cowards run away from a doddle challenge_!"

She was starting to warm up to him.

After that, they spent most of the evening filling the board with bizarre looking doodles, kind of gory too, and while they were deciding how to actually make a good goofy  “Black Hat”, when the man itself appeared behind them, materializing from literal thin air. She remembered her heart almost stopped beating and how she dropped the chalk she was holding, like a little kid being caught after doing devilry.

-” **What. are. you. both. doing?** ”-

His voice was low, almost like a growl. When Demencia turned around he found his boss glaring at her, looking as pissed off as ever, and when his sharp gaze locked with hers she thought her brain might shortcut. The only thing she could do was just greet him with a small nervous grin while Flug tried to erase everything they had made with his sleeves, turning their hard work into a blurry mess.

-”N-no-nothing Boss!! W-we were just, y-you know...”-

Black Hat just leaned in closer to him, making the poor paper bag kid squeal.

-”No, I don’t know. Please, enlighten me.”-

\- “Y-you’ll see sir, I-I was about to work on that invisibility solution you requested, sir, but Demencia here, ah, she tried to help out and, huh, I-I kind of... I-I just..”-

He looked at her, silently requesting backup but it was no use. She just stayed quiet, not even for a second stopping staring at the suited man. The stupid smile on her face made him roll his only visible eye, clicking his tongue in annoyance. A pang of self-consciousness made her stomach sink. Was that a disappointed look he had on his face? No! It couldn’t be! If he began even suspecting she was fooling around with others, taking advantage of his graciousness, she would rather die. Desperately, she tried to think of how to salvage the situation, to make herself look good despite being caught doing something so childish… and was that moment when she figured that if she was going to live with them from now on, might as well give it all and try to act differently from who she originally was. She could get rid off her old self and build someone entirely new, a much better version, bolder, with no filters. That way she would fit more like an "evil assistant" of some sort.

-”Yeah, I couldn’t help it boss”- before she could stop herself, the words just spurted out of her mouth- “‘cuz I’m sooo eager to please you ”-

Thinking back then, she wasn’t lying to herself when she promised to be a good slave. Demencia did want to make him feel pleased. To actually prove him that picking her up wasn’t a mistake and she could earn her place inside his organization despite not having a unique talent of her own.

Black Hat looked surprised, even shocked for a second. He probably didn’t saw that answer coming, and to be honest...neither did she, but quickly regained his composure. With an evil grin he grabbed both of his henchmen's heads. His grip strong and painful, tangling with her messy short raven locks and crumbling his paper bag mask.

- **”Oh really? “-** his only pupil rolled back into his skull and a milky white blank eye greeted them. A small glimpse of green slimy saliva oozed over his lower jaw, making his fangs glisten with a weird hue- “ Then do not complain later when your bodies start screaming for mercy ”-

Afterwards, both Flug and Demencia got punished and had to serve him as a human trone for the rest of the day. Her back still hurt a little bit, but despite all, she had a great time. On the downside, Flug started to lock up his lab, although he also begin to share more with her when they were both on lunch break or when they found each other in the hallways of the manor.

His favorite topic was old sci-fi shows he liked, and hers the undeniable cuteness of ferrets, raccoons, and other small furry animals. It was like having something that resembled a friendship, but she knew he was just being polite. Why would anyone would want her for what she was? Her only dream was belonging to Black Hat, and keep his organization running.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, she realized it was almost 4 am and her eyes were not giving up just yet.  She made an audible groan and pulled out some strands of her hair in a sign of defeat between both of her hands.

This was going to be a hell of a day.

**Countdown: 20 days left**


	2. Chapter 2

Figuring she wouldn’t be able to catch sleep any soon, Demencia decided she might as well try finding 5.0.5 and ask for breakfast or maybe snag an early morning treat if it was still too early. It was best to stay busy, keep herself preoccupied with something, anything, even if that meant she had to swallow inhuman quantities of sugar to escape the nightmares.

Although, now that she thought about it seriously, 5.0.5 wasn’t the cute little mascot she initially assumed him to be. For starters, he was freakishly tall. Even for a full-grown bipedal animal, that monster was easily 7 foot tall without counting the daisy on the top of his head, and she wasn’t even all that sure because he also curved his spine ever so slightly to be properly reached by Flug’s shaky hands. It seemed like he only walked like a human when he had chores to do or when things were out of his reach.

With such a large home it was a no brainer that some extra hands would be most definitely needed to keep all the antique furniture and rich paintings properly dusted, not to mention that most of the floors were made of an expensive looking kind of wood that practically demanded to be polished every single day. Demencia briefly remembered how self-conscious she was about this little detail when she first entered the manor barefoot, leaving muddy footprints all over. She had expected Black Hat to snap his fingers and call out for a maid or butler to clean her mess, but instead, he just ordered his blue pet to take care of it without even looking at him.

Perhaps her boss needed discrete workers that couldn’t snap back at him. Or maybe he actually ate humans and all the servants were already digested long ago. Honestly, it could easily be any of those options. 5.0.5 looked rather pleased to have things to clean up, which only added to the pile of oddities this big fuzzy fellow had. The Organization had to be going well and strong in founds if they could afford such old fashioned, but surprisingly classy, headquarters… yet, not even once she had seen another human besides Flug and herself.

Not only that but the tasks of cooking, mending, and general housekeeping were up to the mammal as well. It seemed like the mascot’s sole purpose was to keep it all up and running.

**_Or else._ **

And now that she knew what “ _or else_ ” truly meant, it was not a matter of laughter anymore.

Demencia silently wondered if she was starting to develop some sort of masochist tendency, because ever since after the penalty punishment on the lab she caught herself wondering how being disciplined by Black Hat _(preferably by his strong looking hands)_ would feel like, and if he might be into old fashion penalty games like spanking. Realizing she was tiptoeing around the dangerous area inside her brain, the ravenette jumped back to her thoughts on the organization’s mascot.

  
The blue bear was always in a good mood, always spilling out some sort of pure holy aura. He spent most of his free time chewing on his toys, sewing or having a nap on the common area and it was so easy to pick on him it wasn’t exciting anymore. The first day inside the manor it took her around 12 hours to lose her fear to the beast, and after the first spitball was thrown it all became as easy as breathing. He was so easy to blame for the stuff she “ _accidentally_ ” broke, it was almost sad.

But not quite.

There was a hidden reason for her random, downright nasty, behavior towards him that went beyond just getting a good laugh out of harmless pranks. 5.0.5 was a constant reminder of what she lacked on the inside, as some sort of the antithesis of what she had become. He owned a genuine smile, true innocence and childlike pureness, something she was certain it wasn’t within her grasp anymore, not even with several years of therapy.

What pissed her off the most were how his eyes looked more alive than hers, with a spark she couldn’t even understand why existed in the first place when Black Hat treated him like a disposable piece of crap. The twinkle on this pupils, the small frown he had on his snout when he concentrated for long periods, even the way the tip of his small pink tongue poked out of his lips whenever he snored.

 _Disgustingly cute_. It wasn’t fair.

With a quick movement, she sat up on her bed with her legs crossed while trying to pop some of her joints that felt sore after being laid down for so long. Demencia sighed with delight when her knuckles cracked back into their place and took her sweet time peeling the covers away.

When she kicked them off entirely the chilly early morning breeze quickly reminded her that it wasn’t such a good idea wearing as pj’s just a t-shirt and underwear. As soon as her bare feet touched the floorboards all the pores on her skin gave her a nasty wave of goosebumps. Autumn was always such a pain in the ass.

Giving quick small jumps as fast she could, her goal was to reach the small fuzzy rug next to her dresser before losing any more body heat. And while she hopped to the next spot, she couldn’t help to think” _The floor is lava! Burning lava!_ ”. The smile on her face gradually died as a small pang of sadness made its presence in the pit of her stomach. She remembered how much she enjoyed playing that game as a little kid, jumping from couch to couch, pretending all the flat surfaces were hot molting lava. When she still lived with her parents… when she had an actual name.

When things were simpler.

**No.**

She was happy right now too. This was just a _different_ kind of happiness. Anyone could have a silly dream such as becoming a professional musician but turning into an evil assistant to restructure the whole world was truly a chance in a lifetime. Yup. Nothing to regret there. Using a bit more of force than she needed to open the drawers, the ravenette tried to find something nice to wear. Most of the stuff she managed to scrap was a bit too revealing for her tastes, so it was always hard trying to put together an outfit that wouldn’t accidentally flash her panties or revealed too much of her cleavage, thighs or hips.

Internally she wondered if the scientist had picked all this as some sort of payback for the lab thing. Either that, or he had a serious fetish involving highschool striped kneesocks.

Since she wasn’t familiar with the new surroundings just yet, she had to rely on her colleagues to get her the stuff she needed. At least there was a gas station a few blocks away and it always had all the basic lady products, which saved everyone some uncomfortable moments. Especially to Flug, since all her expenses came straight out from his credit card.

Thinking about it, maybe she could fake being sick the next time and force him to get her tampons. Just to mess with him a bit.

After rummaging for a few seconds the contents of her drawers, she pulled out a black and white striped crop sweater and a plain purple skirt. Looking through the window she had on her left, she noticed how the skies were more grayish than usual, so she added a pair of leggings just for good measure.

She would have to crop a bit on the right ankle tough since James's GPS tracker was still attached firmly over her skin and according to the mad scientist, it would take a while for him to calibrate the laser to free her from it. Demencia changed as quickly as she could to avoid losing any more body heat, and once she was ready she combed her hair with her fingers to ease the static created by the fuzzy fabric of her sweater. Pulling the only pair of sneakers she had from underneath her bed, she slipped her feet into them and hid the laces inside them as she walked towards the exit.

Not even bothering to keep quiet, she kicked her door open and ran through the main hallway directly aiming for the stairs, making sure to avert her gaze when she passed by the full body sized mirror at the beginning of the stairway.

She tried her best to avoid looking into mirrors for one good reason. She wasn’t quite ready yet to see herself reflected on such a large surface. Demencia was pretty sure that looking at her battered body would only give more fuel to future nightmares, it was still too soon for her to face her own appearance and embrace it, let alone accept it.

It was hard to keep her eyes away once she got a small glimpse of her new looks, especially when that irritating bright amber eye kept popping out whenever light was poured directly into it. Sometimes she could swear it glowed on its own, which only served to freak her out. Wearing a patch helped her feel more at ease, and already requested one made of cloth to stop wasting the ones made of gauze. She had quickly learned that part of the Organisation's policy was NEVER investing money in something that wouldn’t last for long or pay you back.

This unspoken rule had to be enforced **especially** when Black Hat was around.

Plus, she was the only lady on the gang, she had to look somewhat presentable right? Even though her clothes felt like downright hot topic cosplay, she was happy to have things to cover her body. Demencia was convinced she was a monster, so was contempt merely hiding away all the things that made her feel like one. The manor's silence was so eerie she could clearly hear every little thing if she focused hard enough. For example, the slight creaking on the ceiling above her, probably due to the humidity contracting the beams supporting the attic was unmistakable. How the red stained glass of the second level rattled against the merciless drafts, scaring away the birds that tried to nest on the ledge underneath it.

Perhaps the “ _healing_ ” spit of her boss actually improved her audition?. It wouldn’t be all that far fetched since he was a strange obscure being and she had seen him perform some sick tricks with just an elegant flourish, like that one time he strangled Flug with one hand while the other calmly scribbled down some new project for him to take care of. Demencia wanted to ask him so many questions about his origins..but she knew better than prodding into her boss’ past.

Black Hat was not one for idle casual chit chat unless a juicy business transaction was in the line. Not thinking much about it, the girl resumed her actions and slid down the railing of the stairs to the first floor, landing perfectly on her ass.

Well, not everything was like the cartoons on tv, some stuff was just impossible to get right at the first try.

As she tried to ease the pain by rubbing her arse with both hands, she couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing on the main entrance. Having a blue bear as the housekeeper had worn off its novelty, but not even in a thousand years she expected to see him wearing a cute frilly black maid dress, with a tiara on the top making a perfect match. Wait a second, were those clothes customized? He looked really comfortable with it as if it were his daily uniform.

-”Oh. My. God.”- she tried her best to hold in her voice but turned out making a pig-like snort noise, which only made her giggle harder. 5.0.5 turned around making a surprised grunt. He even had a feather duster!

-”Jesus Christ almighty have mercy, what the fuck!”-

Soon, she found herself laughing wholeheartedly until her belly hurt. Her laughter boomed across the manor, the carefully crafted silence of before shattered with each noisy intake of air she made. The female tried calming herself down by pinching her forearm, twisting and pulling until her skin turned red.

But she still failed miserably at keeping her volume low.

-”This has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen up until now!”- getting a bit closer to inspect the details on the costume, she rubbed the tip of the lower frills between her index and thumb. It was silky and smooth. - “There’s a store that sells bear sized costumes or did you picked a “big girl” size? Please tell me this isn’t from a kinky store! “- the furry animal just turned around with his snout pointing out, acting like he got offended by her words but never stopping with his chores. Apparently, he took his job seriously, even when he was being teased.

-”Aw, cmon don’t be like that, I’m sorry! “ - not really, but she did want to eat something rather soonish- “How about this, as an apology, I will dust the stuff over here, that way you can go to the kitchen and make breakfast for everyone. How does that sound big guy?”-

The bear just stared at her, as if he were weighing his options.

-”I promise to give you a belly rub afterward too!”- she insisted, mustering her “sweetest” smile. She almost ended up blowing up her own lie with another snort when 5.0.5 handed her the duster with a hum and skipped happily to the kitchen. She waved to him until he was out of sight and then tossed the duster over her shoulder rolling her eyes. Like _hell_ she was going to dust stuff that would get dirty again the next day, it was a pointless task. If dirt always came back, they could wait until it became more visible at least.

That gave her an idea.

Patting the sides of her skirt, she slid one of her hands into one of the small pockets and pulled out half piece of white chalk she stole from Flug's lab last time. Grinning mischievously, Demencia walked down the small aisle that connected all the rooms on the first floor and began to search for her target. The Hat shaped headquarters might look a bit quirky on the outside, but inside there were plenty of halls that resembled the looks of the most modern art galleries. For example, the wall before her right now had an impeccable row of portraits of her boss in different eras, always displaying that sexy confident smirk of his, with an attire that matched both the time period he was in and his classy old fashioned way of dressing.

Pressing the tip of her chalk on the washable parts of the black and red wallpaper, she began to trace random lines connecting each painting with the next one. Sometimes she added a little text bubble next to Black Hat’s mouth, trying to emulate his way of speaking, which for some reason struck her as British the first time they met. Could that be a hint to his origins?

A few minutes ticked by, and when she was done most of the chalk had already crumbled into her left hand. Dusting herself off, she took a good look of her handy work. There were at least 3 feet of sketches the bear would have to wash with a brush if he wanted to preserve the color on the delicate wallpaper.

Now _that_ would be fun to clean up.

The girl was about to make her way back when she noticed a soft glowing red hue leaking through the creek of the last door at her right. That was Black Hat’s studio, the only place in the whole mansion that none of the residents except for Black Hat himself was allowed to enter. Was he still up? Demencia turned her head to the sides, squinting her eyes to make sure she was not having a hallucination. The big windows nearby let a lot of natural light in, but it was still pretty dark outside. Raising her head, she turned to the old grandfather clock behind her and noticed the time being signaled was 4:30 am.

Biting her lower lip, the ravenette suddenly found herself in the middle of a crossroads. She could either ignore this and harass 5.0.5 until he gave out and handed her a nutritious breakfast...or, she could tempt her luck and try to get a peek into the most private space of her boss, risking getting herself quite literally killed by said being.

Part of her feared him, that was for sure. She wasn't _that_ stupid. He was a despicable entity, rude and violent towards his own comrades, with little to zero regard of others feelings or wellbeing. He was also greedy to no end, always trying to find new ways of scamming or taking advantage of the clients he didn’t respect. His hobby was dumping even more workload on his henchman’s shoulders, acting like a spoiled rich brat who was never taught the meaning of the word **“no”**.

Yet, even a bigger part of her admired all those things others considered flaws. He had managed to build up with no help whatsoever a functional Organization, no shortcuts. Black Hat could be harsh and demanding, but he pushed himself even further for the sake of his own endeavors. A proof of this reasoning was finding the lights on his studio still on, despite being so early. Something she had noticed the last few days was how he could remember the code, date, and name of the packages they sent.

Without even using a computer, his knowledge on current worldwide events proved to be useful more than once while trying to persuade a customer to try something else from the Organization’s catalog of inventions despite already purchasing something.

Black Hat’s pride was as big as his wits and sweet talking, which Demencia found rather hot.

-"Well, it's like they say... curiosity killed the cat"-

An impish grin appeared on her face as she pushed her body against the door and slowly entered into the studio.

_-"But satisfaction brought it back"-_

Carefully, she poked half of her head in first, with the bridge of her nose barely visible and her slender fingers firmly attached to the wooden rims as if the door were some sort of shield. The room was dimly lighted, but she could already tell this space was entirely different from the rest of the house. Big sturdy bookcases were placed on the corners, probably made out of top quality ebony judging by the shiny gloss over them. Most of the spaces were filled with old looking papers and folios, while others had glass protected cases, showcasing curious ceramic artifacts.

There was no other source of light, except for a tall foot lamp nearby the massive dark wooden desk in the middle of the studio, and beneath it, a large blood red carpet welcomed nonexistent visitors. There were no other chairs, only a small glass table with some expensive looking drinks and two lonely upside down cubic shaped brandy glasses _._

The heavy burgundy velvety curtains prevented any sun rays from leaking in, but even if they were pulled apart, she highly doubted anything would change because the small glimpses of the wall she could catch were jet black. If Demencia had, to be honest, the room looked like some sort of old cabaret pulled right out of an old noir film. The air that wafted towards her was a bit musky, with a tangy feel to it that could only come out from worn out paper and ink. All of it had such a sophisticated feel to it.

Just like the suit of the man sitting in front of her behind the big desk.

At first, her primary impulses told her to get the hell out of there before he noticed her presence, however, the demon didn’t seem to be conscious of her presence. His breathing looked shallow, almost non-existent. His hands were entwined over his lap with his top hat tilted slightly to a side, hiding both his good eye and monocle. If he were human, Demencia would have sworn he was sleeping.

-” _What the hell...at least change when you are going to sleep…”_ \- She thought to herself with a small smile, all her fear melting into a puddle of mush she couldn’t quite describe inside her ribcage. Closing the door behind her with a soft click, the young female decided to get closer to him. Thankfully the squeaky sneakers she wore were muffled once she stepped into the carpet, which meant she was already inside the zone that should have risen red flags inside her brain a while ago. However, once she was close enough, it was impossible for her to tear her eyes apart.

His features were still the same. The permanent scowl, the pointy shark-like teeth glimpse, his healthy dark gray complexion and even the dark circles around his only visible eye were just as vivid as she remembered seeing yesterday, only this time she got to actually see it up close. By now her inner self was already screaming to get the fuck out, but she might never get another chance like this one… and so she carefully placed her index finger on the right edge of his mouth and poked it.

 _-"So squishy!"_ \- she quietly squealed.

Smirking, she poked a bit lower and lifted his upper lip a little bit. She was quickly greeted by a row of black gums. Now Flug had to buy her lunch for the rest of the week. Prodding diverse parts of his face, Demencia completely lost track of time and self-awareness, and while she thought she was being as quiet as a mouse, in reality, her boss had been aware of her presence ever since her obnoxious laughter penetrated his eardrums. Little did she know...Black Hat was pretty damn awake, in fact, he had just been resting his eye after pulling an all-nighter. Apparently, his business was being slightly affected due to the rise of many villain rookies who thought that could beat HIM on the sales field.

Yeah right, like he was going to let them live long enough to even raise those sales 1 more cent.

The evil being had spent most of the night thinking about how to take care of all of them in one go. It was no secret that he wasn’t a patient man, and he couldn’t be possibly bothered with erasing one by one all the small fries on his way. Plan after plan, all of them sounded and looked like rubbish after the final draft was made. It had to be bigger. Better. The message behind this had to be loud and clear: Black Hat Organization does not fuck around. And so, he ended up dozing off in his chair.

At first, when he noticed Demencia erupting into his private studio he was just a snap of his fingers away from setting her hair on fire, but then decided to let her get closer and scare her transforming his face into a pair of tendrils, or maybe he should try an electric saw tongue this time? Scaring his useless excuse of a pet or the skinny loser who called himself his mad scientist no longer satiated his sadistic tendencies. They still reeked of fear whenever he pulled one of his rare pranks on them, but the game turned stale rather quickly. There was no challenge, thus a meaningless endeavor.

Demencia, however, she had proven to be an oddball more than once and that kept his curiosity slightly lit. Flug had recommended him not to upset her or tease her too much at first since she could be bearing some serious psychological scars. Not to mention that up until the moment they arrived at her cell, she had no knowledge of supernatural beings.

As if Black Hat would **ever care** for affairs of that sort.

Humans were so easy to break, both mentally and physically. It was obvious he had acquired quite damaged goods when he picked up that girl, but not even him could ignore the opportunity to get his hands over Golden Heart’s failed science project. For the sake of his future villainous deeds, he could put up with another human nuisance for a while. Although he had not anticipated her to be so...resistant to his gruesome nature. The first time he tried to scare her had been the very same night she got into the manor. He had slithered his way into Flug’s lab where she was being monitored by several strange looking machines that were supposed to keep her vitals in check.

Back then, she looked somewhat smaller and more fragile, with a few pounds less and her skin had a sickening yellow hue he had only seen before on famished people back in the Dark Plague era. The beeping of the machine attached to her left breast indicated she was breathing heavily, which only served to amplify the lopsided grin on his face. With a swift movement, he straddled her over the clinic bed placing his knees by the sides of her hips and pulled a fistful of her bangs upwards, tugging her face towards him. Meanwhile, his other hand prevented him from losing his balance as leaned towards her, making the bed creak under his added weight.

- **”W a k e up”** \- he had demanded with a gurgling sound.

Snapping his jaw open, he conjured up several rows of shape teeth that moved in a clockwise fashion, his slimy tongue had shrunk but instead, a healthy dose of his saliva dripped down directly into her face. Emulating the hellfire he had seen before on his youth, Black Hat made his esophagus burst into flames that danced dangerously over the still sleeping girl’s cheek. Finally, ever so slowly, Demencia’s eyes finally fluttered open.

His monocle reflected the half of her face that had that mismatched amber orb, which only shone brighter thanks to the source of light is directly poured into it. Her pupil contracted like a cat’s, while her other eye, still glossy and gone remained dull in comparison. Her heartbeat skipped a few times, which was always a good sign that soon a pitiful whimper or a horrified yell was about to burst out of his victims. However, it never came.

Blinking a few times, the girl only gave him an almost imperceptible whisper ” _such pretty fireworks”_ before her whole body slumped and her sleeping was resumed as if nothing happened. Her heart was still calm, her pulse was steady, and the little smile she wore somehow baffled him more than anything.

-”...well, this is a first”- Black Hat immediately snapped shut his mouth and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Maybe Flug was drugging her too much, which would explain why she had felt no fear at all. Yeah. That was an acceptable answer...for now.

Ever since then, the businessman had tried to scare her with physical punishment (due to Flug’s insistent and borderline obsessive request, this only came on softcore forms such as slapping her in the back of her head with a rolled newspaper), insults, and the casual rough manhandling to guide her into a right direction whenever she got lost inside the house. But not even once that annoying foolish smile flaked.

All in all, she was unpredictable, reckless and stupid. That lack of fear was something he could only exploit for his evil schemes only if he could turn himself into what she dreaded the most. After all, if his new henchman had a weakness, it was his duty as leader of the Organization to know and make sure she wouldn’t forget whom she was dealing with.  
Opening his eye, he glared at her when her fingers got too adventurous and started caressing his cheekbone.

 -”I’ll bite your fingers off if you don’t stop what you are doing. Right. **Now**.”- he growled.

-”Heh, I knew you couldn’t be such a heavy sleeper."-

Stepping back she placed her hands on her hips, trying to puff her chest a little bit more, a pathetic attempt of trying to look confident about her pose. Black Hat just clicked his tongue and began to rub the juncture in between his eye sockets, trying to chase away any signs of fatigue. His chance to make a good scare was ruined now. He would get his payback tough.

He always did.

-"Why are you sleeping here, boss? A chair can’t be good for your back...wait, do you even have a backbone? Don’t you get cold and stuff? "- with a suggestive voice she whispered- "Could it be that you feel lonely all on your own?"-

-”Do I need to remind you that you are on trial period right now?” - rubbing his temples with both hands as if trying to ease an upcoming headache, the demon was tempted to open a portal to the spirit realm and toss her in for a few hours.

-”I know, I know…”- the girl said, casually caressing the surface of his desk-” But I figured that waking up early could help me out with finding my place in the manor and all that...did you hear what happened earlier?”-

”You mean that horrible cacophony of sounds you call laughter?”- she grimaced and gave him a timid nod -” I wouldn’t have been surprised if the dogs started howling along with you. Next time tone yourself down.”-

-”Always using such fancy words, you must be really smart boss!”- the ravenette praised, placing her elbows over some random papers scattered nearby and giving him a playful look. Swatting her away and pulling the documents from beneath he made her lose her balance for a few seconds, almost making the girl stamp her chin right into the solid hardwood surface. Somehow the little surprised yelp she gave made him feel pleased. At least, something had caught HER out of guard.

-”Knowing proper vocabulary is a common thing, Demencia”-

-”Uhuhuhu, I got goosebumps when you said my name boss, do it again!”- the girl pleaded, rolling up her sleeve and trying to show him her body's reaction to him pronouncing her name. Faint fleshy scars decorating her forearm briefly caught his attention. How childish.

-”Don’t you have anyone else to pester?”- cocking a brow, he quickly added- “Or did they got tired of you as well?”-

-”Ouch”- she winced standing up and pretending to be stuck right in the gut, covering it with both arms before throwing them in the air and turning on the ball of her heels-" Low blow, but I will take it"- She dramatically grasped a nearby shelf, to emphasize her "pain", letting her lower body slide down with a toothy smile. It was so odd, she felt way more playful around his presence.

For a few minutes, they remained in silence, the only sound between them coming from the shuffling of documents he had on his hands. Dementia knew it was only matter of seconds until he pushed her away, so she had to think about something else to say. Taking a closer look into the back of his numerous book collection she managed to read the upside title of one: "Faust". The young female remembered reading this in her high school years.

The story of a man who sold his soul to a diabolic entity and managed to trick them into prolonging his life span. Not to mention all the wisdom he gained as per established on their original agreement. In the end though, if her memory recalled it correctly, Faust had experienced a horrible, painful death, and his existence was dragged to hell to be forever tortured.

_An idea struck her mind._

-" Say... Have you ever heard of pacts with the Devil, boss?"- Black Hat's gaze flickered for a few seconds from his papers to her, only to resume his task as if nothing had happened.

-”...Why do you ask?”-

-”Well…”- Demencia began, pacing around the glass table that contained his private collection of liquors- “I need motivation, and you need a more efficient henchman...so I think it would benefit both of us if there were some sort of reward for me at the end of this bargain, besides me staying alive”- picking up casually one of the nearby bottles, only to place it down almost immediately, she added-” Living like this is worth squat. If you throw me out I will let myself die anyways so… I need stronger determination.”-

He was about to argue how none of this was of his concern, but the serious glance she gave him spoke volumes of how severe the situation was for her. Usually, this would have earned any of his henchmen a firm slap, maybe some scolding for daring to look at him like this, yet he couldn’t bring himself to give an answer. Instead, he just frowned, which Demencia took as her cue to go on.

-"In this kind of contracts, the Devil gives the bidder anything they want to in exchange of servitude for all eternity"- rising her index, she signaled her chest, and then pointed towards his- “Isn’t this kind of what is happening here between us? Only in this case, you win no matter what, which is not fair.”-

 -”Your point?”-

-”Let’s just say… if I’m going to be as good as dead no matter what, then I would rather enjoy what is left of it.”-

-"Isn't the possibility of being a homeless bum enough encouragement?"-

-”Nope"- she made a popping sound at the end -"Let’s make a contract.”- a mischievous grin appeared on her features. The man arched one eyebrow. Was she really trying to lure him into a gamble of some sort?

-”I don’t have time to play your stupid games, Demencia”- rolling his eye he turned his chair around as a way to dismiss her presence on his office. -”Go find something useful to do and do **not** enter my office again.”- Right now he was just plain tired, it was way too early, even for him, to deal with other people’s nonsense.

Suddenly, his chair was pushed violently to his left side, forcing him to turn around. Before he could even say something a bright amber eye was looking directly at him, almost shining on its own. There it was again, that mysterious glimmer that always lighted up whenever she stopped fearing him.

It made his gut twist in anger.

-”You gave me one month as a deadline, else you kick me out, right?”- leaning in a bit closer, trying to act as nonchalant as possible, she placed the fingertips of her right hand over his chest, carefully caressing the knot on his black tie and slowly tracing a path downwards. He was incredibly cold, she could feel that even though his shirt, but Demencia had no time to ponder too deeply about this. Forcefully, she grabbed the end of the tie and pulled him into her personal space, to the point she could see her own eye reflected on his monocle, the blush on her cheeks was spreading all the way into her ears too but that wasn’t important.

-”I swear my loyalty to you. My heart, my soul, even what is left of my body...all of it I will give it for the sake of your Organization and your dream. I vow to follow you, even if that means I will end up in hell itself.”-

Black Hat only stared blankly at her, which only made her feel more self-conscious of her words. Wasn’t this almost like a proposal? Any man would have at the very least said something by now, but she already knew her boss wasn’t just “ _any man_ ”. He was the devil incarnate. Soulless. With probably a black hole for a heart. Even knowing so… her hands wouldn’t let him go, fearing that as soon as she released him all the courage she had managed to build up would abandon her for good.

Dropping her voice tone and nuzzling on the space between the crook of his neck she ghosted her lips over the little “skin” exposed over the collar of his suit -” I will make sure you beg me to stay by month’s end. If I can’t do that then I’ll jump out of the nearest window out of your sight forever.”-

Slowly, she pulled away, making sure not to break eye contact. In her mind, the plan was making feel frustrated or at least leave him speechless, kind of like on those old spies movies where the main character was seduced by a mysterious confident woman. But to her disappointment, he didn’t seem all that impressed, which was really discouraging. At least she had tried.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, fuck. I’m so dumb. So stupid. So in-_

While she was trying to figure out a way to end this conversation without looking like a fool she failed to notice how he had slid a gloved hand between the valley of her chest, barely making contact with the fabric of her sweater. By the time she felt it, he had already caged her neck in between his fingers.

**-”Deal”-**

Violently, he pushed her and slammed her body against his desk, making her skull bounce a little bit. A gasp escaped her lips and her eyes widened in surprise. Pressing carefully into her trachea, forcing her to open her mouth to catch some air, he smirked. The ravenette looked so vulnerable right now, just like when he saw her for the first time in the cellar. Somehow the soft red glow of his lamp made everything seem far more appetizing.

-”Let’s set some conditions first”- Leaning into her he found himself perfectly placed between her legs.- “One, you can’t ask for anyone’s help. Especially to Flug. ”- Slowly, he started to apply more pressure into his grip. Her cheeks blossomed into crimson and one of her hands shyly tapped the back of his own as a signal that he was really starting to hurt her. He ignored it. -” Two, you can’t just stay all day inside the house, if you don’t help out more I will tell 5.0.5 to stop feeding you. Earn your place.”- She closed her eyes and just nodded, her whole body was starting to shake and wriggle under his weight and he found that absolutely delightful.

-“Three”- and this time he took his time to finish his sentence-” You can’t ask for your freedom back.”-

She could have easily pushed him back, he really didn’t intend to kill her, but the way she kept her hands in control, barely tugging the ends of his vest as if she was silently asking him to be more gentle perplexed him.

I wasn’t a sign to stop or to back away. She was bracing herself to keep receiving his abuse.

Who in the nine circles of hell liked being choked by an evil entity?! Okay, bad way of formulating a question since there was a subcircle entirely dedicated to those with strange fetishes. He just clenched his teeth and tried to remain calm. Was she mocking him? Was this another of her tasteless pranks?

Before he could do or say anything else, she managed to hook her calves on his hips and press both of them together on a swift move making him lose briefly his balance and release her throat, placing his hands on the sides of her head instead to avoid falling with a solid _thunk_.

The girl took a few seconds to catch her breath again, in between coughs and nervous laughs as she sat on her forearms to look at him directly. Her body was now flushed completely in an awkward position against his. That maneuver caught him with his guard low, Black Hat didn’t really expect her to keep up with his punishment.

Wait.

Was this still considered punishment? She looked like she was enjoying it. As if Demencia could read his thoughts, she gave him a knowing smug smirk.

-”Then...” - she managed to say in a breathless voice - “I have a condition as well”-

He gave her a scowl. The one who was in charge was him, not her. What made her think he would even listen to her demands? But then again, he couldn’t let her go just yet. She still had something he needed, deep within that amber eye.

-”If I win, if I end up staying for good... you have to kiss me. French style.”-

-”What.”-

-”You heard me. I want a kiss from you. It's only fair since you are putting so many handicaps for me. What is my eternal loyalty compared to a petty little kiss? I want to know more about you, and since you won’t tell me I want to discover it myself.”-

They were so close right now. Internally she was already screaming and losing her shit at her own cringy request. A kiss, seriously? Faust had bargained his soul for infinite knowledge, and she had decided to ask for something so juvenile as a smooch.

However, it wasn’t lost to her the fact that he had stay put in between her legs, still staring down to her as if she were nothing but a filthy mutt staining his perfectñy ironed vest. His glare was intense, even with only one eye, those surreal eyebrows were expressive enough to let her understand he was pondering into her offer. She tried to burn all these sensations in her memory permanently to evoke them later when she felt cold again in the privacy of her room. Finally, he spoke.

-”What makes you think I... “-

-”I’m serious, you know?”- she interrupted him, an everlasting smile plastered on her face - “I want to know you more. Even if it's on my own weird, bothersome kind of way.”-

For a few seconds, he remained in silence, what was wrong with this girl? Was she experimenting some sort of Stockholm syndrome? She was nothing but a mere tool for him, just a possible future trump card waiting to be revealed at the right time, and she _knew_ that. Yet she still kept saying weird things like “ _I want to please you_ ”, _“You are the best boss ever”_ or _“I want to know you”_ , not to mention all the sexual innuendos she slipped from time to time.

To be honest, all human females were the same for him.

Sometimes he wondered if she had ulterior motives. For all the knew she could be pretending just to mess him up with the weird thing humans called “emotions”. Or maybe this was the result after all she had to do before they met. It was rather common for victims of past abuse to idealize their saviors, quickly falling again into the routine and craving being mistreated once more.  
She barely knew him at all, and even so, she acted like some faithful lapdog towards him.

However, he could still use those “ _feelings_ ” to his gain. Her devotion. Having a blind follower could be useful later on. And since she was already ready to do, apparently, anything for his approval, then so be it.

Slowly, he raised himself and unhooked himself from her thigh vice grip letting out a long sigh. The demon was still tired from last night and wasn’t looking forward to keeping on talking about this anymore. Looking down at her he could tell she was waiting for a reply, still laid back on his desk with glossy eyes, her legs crossed now that he wasn’t nested between them. It failed miserably hiding her bright pink underwear. The girl’s skin was flushed, glistening with a bit of sweat, and her neck had dark bruises that would soon blossom into a nice shade of purple.

She didn't have that pleading look in her eyes before, he noticed.

Rearranging his necktie and taking a sit again on his comfortable chair, he huffed -” You have 20 days left” - pointing at the exit with a gloved thumb added -“Now, scram.”- At first, she looked at him perplexed, not sure if she could trust what she just heard. When he pushed from away her legs so he could get back to his paperwork it finally clicked inside her brain. Laughing, Demencia jumped off his desk, smoothing her clothes as if nothing happened. When she reached the doorknob she turned around and winked at him.

-”A paper contract would have been nice too though!”- not giving him enough time to reply, she disappeared in a blur of black hair and giggles. Black Hat just stared at the door for a while and made sure to wait until her footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore before smashing his fist against the flat surface desk. The wood crushed under the pressure and split open effortlessly. What a shame, it was real mahogany.

His body started to feel hot despite being an entity with “cold blood”, probably boiling with anger and frustration he thought, after all...

She actually made him accept her terms.

-"Well now, things are **truly** getting more interesting.”-


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING 
> 
> Explicit sexual situation with oneself (masturbation) & gore.

Demencia closed the door behind her carefully and spinning on ball of her heels she turned to the left. The female then walked a few steps in silence until she reached the small guest bathroom under the staircase. A shaking hand grasped the stained metal knob and fumbled with it for a few seconds before promptly rushing in. Once she was inside, her eyes darted immediately to the corners, seeking for the perfect spot to let herself loose.

Ignoring the light switch entirely, the darkness inside the small room was even prominent considering how early it was. There wasn’t much to bask in, the bare minimum requirements were laid on such way the reduced space wasn’t wasted. A single toilet on the furthest corner, a ceramic hand-washer that matched it just a couple of steps away with a big round mirror over the silver faucets, and a paper bin with metal lid tucked on a side.

Silently, without turning around, she pressed down the bolt that locked the entrance and stared at her mismatched faded sneakers for a while. The cold metal made her fingertips tingle, contrasting hashly with the heat she was currently expelling. Raven short locks had been concealing the maniacal grin plastered on her face, as well as the steady stream of tears rolling down her cheeks. Her whole body was trembling, a pleasurable shiver running down all the way to her core.

_”He touched me. He touched me. He touched me. **HE TOUCHED ME.** ” _

She could feel those oh so called butterflies about to burst out of her throat, bubbling quickly from the pit of her stomach. Either that or she wanted to puke her guts out, although to be honest, both sounded like pretty plausible options at this point. Demencia couldn’t tell for sure, she was too busy fumbling with her underwear, trying to move it to the side so she could masturbate herself properly with the same hand she had touched him with.

She didn’t know why a sudden wave of lust filled her brain, commanding her body to immediately alleviate her need. It was like a switch had been activated, setting all her hormones into raging fire. Finally, moving the cotton piece out of the way, the girl let out a dark chuckle when a thin thread of her dampness ran slowly through her inner left thigh. Each small circle over her sensitive nub threatening to make her moan. 

Demencia noticed how the muscles surrounding her throat still hurt after Black Hat’s rough manhandling, which only enhanced her sick fantasies even further. Licking her lips, she dared to mutter his name like some sort of twisted mantra. Pain was something she was fairly akin with, and one would think that she would be nothing but apprehensive to the thought of enduring even more of it… yet, somehow here she was, with one knee propped over the handwash bowl rim, fingers furiously pistoning in and out, seeking the release of warmth pooling on her tummy. Panting, hissing curses through clenched teeth, it only took her a few more seconds before she could feel the familiar coil on her lower regions ready to snap.

-“BlackHatBlackHatmmnngh! _Fuck!_ _Fuck!”_ \- bucking her hips, she unintentionally banged the door with her whole body as her orgasm hit her with full force, conjuring lewd imagery of her boss doing unspeakable things to her body to help her ride through the aftershocks. She could picture it all: his slim figure looming over her smaller frame, razor-sharp teeth sinking into her exposed flesh, letting him cruelly brand her as he pleased. Claws instead of gloved hands, ripping her clothes to smithereens only to humiliate her further. 

It felt so wrong, so dirty, and **_so right_ ** . It had been a while since she had felt remotely aroused, which quickly began to set all sort of figurative red flags inside her head. _Was this even normal?_ Her high was short lived, barely lasting a few seconds before suddenly crashing into her tedious reality once more. Removing her now damp fingers, she stared at them and their glistening, irrefutable evidence of her disgusting act. Without wasting a moment, she forcibly set the water faucet to its max pressure and promptly washed away her own slickness, making sure to use abundant soap and scrubbing as thoroughly as possible. Next, she practically ripped the towel from the little hook beside her.

Demencia concealed her right hand behind the fluffy material, damping just the tip and letting it soak for a bit before quickly rubbing it on her inner thighs. It was the best she could do for now, since toilet paper would only get stick to her skin and she did not need 5.0.5 or Flug telling her she had a string of paper tailing anywhere near her butt. Pulling the elastic of her panties, she slid off them with a practiced movement. Wrapping it with the towel, she disposed all of it on the bin after calculating that it wouldn’t fit if she flushed it down the toilet. As long as no one rummaged the trash cans, she would be safe.

When the job was done, she unceremoniously plopped on the tiled ground, only to regret it as soon as the cold bit her skin with a fleshy smack.

She was so stupid. So fucking stupid.

Wincing, she tried with all her might to ignore the loud drumming inside her head, taking deep breaths to calm down. It was inexplicable to her how come after all the things she had endured, she could still get excited. Horny even, if the right variables ever came into play. Running a hand over her already sweaty bangs she let out a shaky moan when she remembered the perfect grip he had over her windpipe. His natural musk overloading all her senses when he got close enough for her lungs to collapse, she could have sworn she detected some menthol scent mixed with cigar ashes when he leaned onto her. The sturdiness of his frame, topping her so effortlessly. The mere thought of it was so unbelievably **hot**.

Her lips were quivering into a twisted smile while her brows knit together trying to hold the sobs in her sore throat.  She could feel as if her rational thoughts were being separated from her physical body, pulled away by invisible strings, trying to protect her from the painful memories that wanted to reach the surface of her consciousness.  He had been so much like _him._ So merciless and selfish, like a beast in heat. Although to be fair, Black Hat didn’t really do it with that particular idea in mind. She could tell this was his own brand of intimidation, and she wasn’t delusional enough yet to assume his actions were intentional.

This was also the first time since she got pulled out of her cell that got near someone else's body, and it felt _incredibly_ good. Of course, she had the chance to share some skinship with her fellow co-workers before, although briefly. However, this wasn’t just a casual half baked hug or a pinch on the cheeks. She actually kind of dry humped her _boss._ _And somehow she was still alive to tell the tale._ That sudden lustful burst smoked itself out when the guilt and self-hatred dwelling on the back of her mind started clawing its way back into her thoughts, spitting insults non-stop.

- _”YOu aRe sUcH a sLuT”-_

_-”NAtuRallY yOu liKeD it, wHoRE”-_

_-”YoUR bOdy iS as hoNeSt aS YoUr MoUTh, yOu jUst WaNt tO be RaVIshEd All oVer aGaIn”-_

_-”ThAt’s aLL yOu arE gOoD foR, ANd yOu kNOw It”-_

_-”UsELess pIecE OF meaT”_

Flashes of the blood-stained mattress, filthy covers, and cold half eaten leftovers appeared before her eyes.

She tried in vain to stop it by pressing the palm of her hands against her ears. She could still feel the warmth in between her legs, the damp spot on her crotch, and that only made her feel even worse, because she indeed liked it. The intimate contact, the anticipation and the roughness of it all were elements familiar to her in more way that one. She felt strangely attracted to him, to that ruthless confidence and devilish grin.

She felt so filthy, yet she wanted to be soiled even further. And not just by anyone, no. That wouldn’t satisfy her at all.

 _It had to be him, and only_ **_him_ ** _._

She could lie to everyone, pretend those three years never happened. She could even lie to herself and act like she didn’t care, but the truth was she did. Each and every single night she would ponder about all the things she could have done to fight him off, all the mistakes she could have avoided. But in the end, Demencia had lost all her willing to resist him. Even now, she was smaller, thinner, weaker than most males. She was **pathetic** , and no amount of drug Flug might provide in the future would ever change that.

Back then, she had given up on everything to the point where she considered killing herself as the only solution left. The ravenette was sure her past classmates had already forgotten all about her, afterall… she only socialized to fit in, to be popular. Never to actually build a meaningful connection because… well, the whole idea was unnecessary since the beginning. She was going to be the very first latin american musical prodigy, in America no less! There was no time to fool around or get too close to her competition. The only thing that mattered was climbing her way to the top, and nothing else.

Her family though, that was a completely different matter.

Hugging her knees closer to her chest, the female hid her face as the memories of her past life tried to break free from the seal she had cast upon them. It was easier pretending she had no one to turn to, since that left more space to the one person who actually mattered for her. Her devilishly dashing entity in shiny armor and top hat. Black Hat had granted her a second chance to actually live again, and do whatever she wanted. No more rules, restrictions or impossible horizons. How could she compare being a henchman to the most powerful being to a petty career as a conservatory kid? He had made it crystal clear since day one that she could release all her pent up anger and hate towards double faced heroes, as long as she helped him growing his organization stronger. 

She now had a carte blanche of some sorts, the authority to do anything she pleased, and with Flug’s treatment, she could add to her list of skills considerable strength. There was no more “wrong” or “right”. True villains didn’t care about meaningless things as morals. She was free from the shackles of all the conventional rules of the society, letting an open path for destruction and mayhem. Or so she wanted to make herself believe. 

What she truly desired, besides serving her new leash, was bring pain to those who lied and hurt people like her once was. Human scumbags who tainted all they touched. Heroes were supposed to serve civilians, to use their powers to bring protection to those in need, but instead, all she had learned was that not even superhumans were immune to greed and lust. A great ordeal of those bastards were glorified bullies. If anything, Black Hat was doing a public service by wiping out the trash from earth’s surface.

She would never forget. And she would never forgive.

After a few minutes her breathing returned to normal. Hunger long forgotten, she stood up and firmly slapped her cheeks a couple times to stop the tears that were still threatening to come out. The stinging sensation on her skin was somehow comforting, the pain never failed to keep her grounded when she most needed it. 

_-”TrY aS yoU MIghT, buT YoU Can’T eSCapE mE.”-_

Suddenly her ears perked. 

A familiar soft scratching sound filled the small bathroom, but it was impossible since there was nothing around here that could possibly be making that obnoxious noise. As it slowly increased its volume, and then she saw it. Crawling on the tiles, just behind the toilet, a black figure with impossibly big eyes and no mouth. Ever since she woke on the manor, there were times in which her brain just flipped and began to trick her into believing there was someone else on the same room whenever her stress levels hit their highest point, always manifesting itself with a scratching that never failed to split her brain in two, akin to the sound of nails on a chalkboard. 

Usually, it would eventually fade if she managed to find the source from where this...illusion came out from. Last time it had been a water pipe whispering horrible things to her, which ended up with her ripping it off from the wall with her bare hands, getting cement and dirt under bloody nails. That day not only did she get an earful of nagging from the mad scientist, but she also discovered that **fear** made her quite strong physically. As cool as having above average strength was, she did not looked forward to another of those episodes. 

Fearing a mental breakdown, she refused to let her fears get a hold of her senses. She was thinking about knocking herself out with a punch to her gut, when suddenly a timid knock behind her caught her attention. Wiping her head so fast that some of her hair strands slapped her right on the face, she held in her breath. Was that a real knock, or just a figment of her imagination?

-“Hello?”-  Flug’s voice was being muffled by the door, however she could still make out the words he was speaking -”Demencia, is that you? Stop making such a ruckus! I can hear your incessant banging all around the house!”-

_-”hE IS juSt LikE eVEryONe ELse, yOU KnoW It”-_

_-”No he isn’t! He is nice to me, to 5.0.5. He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose!”_ \- she whispered to herself frantically, noticing how the shadows were beginning to grow bigger as it crawled towards her.

_-”anD hOW ExacTLy do yOU KnoW THat?”-_

_-”Black Hat told him not to hurt me. He is supposed to take care of me”-_ the thing was getting closer, and she was too preoccupied trying to avoid its touch to remember she could open the door or flick the light switch on. It was hard to look away from those horrifying white eyes with black pupils.

 _-”iS ThaT So?”-_ by now the thing had her cornered against the door, looming over her to the point she could have sworn its stinky breath reached her _-”tO ME iT LOoks liKE HE is tRYinG tO GaiN yoUR tRusT”-_

_-”NO!”- she tried to scream -”They saved me! I’m safe!”-_

_-”IsN’T thIs eXActLy wHat HApPeneD laST tImE? DiDN’t youR hERo beTRayED yoU?”-_

That shut her inner voice rather quickly.

She would be lying to herself if she denied that lingering feeling of dread she had deep inside her soul. Flug was nice, understanding, and above all really patient and resilient to physical damage towards his persona… but he was also a man. And all man had needs. Unlike Black Hat, who was a brand new entity for her to feast her eyes on, the doctor was human. And she already knew what humans were capable of.

-”Hey!”- the knocking vibration ran through her back, snapping her out from haze inside her head -”Earth to Demencia! Open up this instant, young lady!”-

At loss of what she should do, she tried replying back but all that escaped her lips were a series of animalistic grunts, which surprised her even more. In between the menacing shadow monster, and her own strange vocalization the poor girl tried taking deep breaths to calm herself down. An upcoming headache started to blossom from the right side of the head, making her eyeball pulse in a way that made her equally disgusted and terrified. Three more taps echoed on the room, this time more urgent.

-”Are you trying to flush things down the toilet again? Because if you are, I swear to God Demencia-!”- the male didn’t finish his sentence, probably just trying to warn her with a bluff. Maybe he could help her find where the sound was coming from. Flug was always trying to talk to her, always mindful of her space. At the same time, the figure began to slowly retreat, melting itself into the ground and slipping through the cracks in between the tiles. Its gaze never breaking contact with her until it disappeared entirely. Once it finally left, the ravenette could feel her muscles slowly awakening from the stupor she had been.

Grunting, she slowly stood up while covering up her right eye and after missing several times the door handle, she managed to open it. Her headache got only worse. Outside, a thin guy with a paper bag over his head and black goggles were waiting for her with his arms crossed over his chest. Today he was wearing a long sleeved blue cardigan, long gray sweatpants with little stars pattern and faded light blue slippers. His trademark gloves nowhere to be seen, leaving his pale complexion into plain sight.

-”Good to see the treatment is working well enough.”- he said sarcastically -” It’s not even six am and you are already waking everyone up with your chaos.”- relaxing his posture a little bit he frowned - “I’m telling you, when Mr.Black Hat sees what you have done on the painting hallway he is going to be so mad! Don’t expect me to cover up for you this time! I-” he suddenly stopped talking when he noticed her avoiding his sight. Her skin was shiny with a thin layer of sweat as if she just ran a marathon in the spawn of a few seconds, her parted lips letting out tired huffs as the hand covering half of her face began to clench itself into a small fist. Carefully, Flug tried hesitantly reaching for her shoulder -”Hey...are you ok.?”-

Flinching before he could even touch her, she rose her only visible eye, muttering pathetically:

_-”It won’t stop. It never stops. It’s hurting me.”-_

The scientist was trying to understand what was happening, but his neurons weren’t fully awake to come up with a decent theory or helpful action. It was strange to see her so...vulnerable. Retracting his hand, he instead opted for taking a few steps back. Demencia’s body slightly shivered, her hand still firmly attached to her face, as if trying to shake something off her head. 

As she passed by him, their shoulders bumped into each other. Flug was quick enough to catch the message and move aside to let her through but she didn’t even seem to realize he was there; her eye was unfocused, hazy even, red blotches on her cheeks and the finger-like marks on her neck along with her messy clothes, making her look like she just straight out of a dog fight. The paper bag boy knew enough of human anatomy to realize all of those would leave nasty traces later on. He was tempted to ask but then again…

In this household everyone had secrets they kept to themselves.

So, rather than trying to pry into her private affairs, he chose to march towards the kitchen and mind his own business until she decided on her own to talk about it. However, it was a no brainer filling the blanks of more or less what might have happened.

This has to be _his_ work. Right?

He doubted his boss actually threw her around like a rag doll, at least not in her first conscious week. He could get a bit rough sometimes, and by experience, he knew how hard was to make those nasty scars and bruises fade away. He wouldn’t describe his working environment as a violent household with domestic abuse _(although in f 5.0.5’s case, animal abuse would be more accurate)_.

Black Hat was capable of a lot of things, but beating his henchman for no apparent reason didn’t go along with his personality…at least not right now when his mood was still relatively “good”. Although to be completely honest, Flug wasn’t really sure he could get a proper read on the man anymore. 

After spending 5 years at his service he was only certain of two things: One: his boss wasn’t from this plane of existence. His supernatural powers were still fascinating (and quite scary) to him. They had no logic or scientific explanation, so he just had to learn to roll with it. And two:  making him angry was **_extremely easy_ ** . Sometimes when he couldn’t finish an artifact or project on the agreed deadline he got slapped on the back of his neck or pulled from the front of his shirt and then tossed to the other side of the room. All of that was pretty vanilla compared to the things he did to his actual enemies. Or worse: **those who owed him money**.

A shiver ran down his back as he remembered that one time when one of their clients, a bank vice president no less, took his sweet time paying for the special surveillance cameras Flug designed to keep workers from going home until they reached a certain quota. The last thing he heard from him was that he mysteriously disappeared without even saying goodbye to his wife and kids. He had just vanished overnight. Needless to say, they were in excellent terms with the new management now,  always receiving their monthly fee on time.

Black Hat had many phases, a bully with no interest in other’s feelings was one of them, but it was hard to believe that he would actually beat up a girl with no visible gain. It didn’t make any sense. Plus he was pretty sure he wouldn’t damage an _“investment”,_ as he called her when she wasn’t present. Which now that he thought about it, kind of perplexed him because it didn’t seem like she had anything special within her. Granted, she had some serious anger issues and violent bursts from time to time, but they were all inside the “understandable” considering her past. 

Her anatomy was fairly common, with no extra organs or modifications besides her odd colored eye. The subject’s strength had been enhanced with his new experimental drug, however before that she had no remarkable trait. All the tests had ruled her out as a superhuman. Demencia was as average as the classic American woman, biologically speaking at least. 

Before he could even formulate another thought, a loud crashing sound caught his attention. Instinctively, he covered his head. Turning a bit to see what was the source of the scandal, he found his fellow henchman banging her head against the main entrance. She was clenching her jaw and chewing her lower lip while doing so, too lost on her own thoughts to realize what she was doing. He had seen this before, albeit with dogs and other animals who wanted to escape imprisonment. 

**Like the subject he currently had squirming on its cage on the basement.**

-”W-what the hell!! Demencia!!”- he rushed over her, and when he tried to pull her back by the shoulders, she snarled -”It’s outside, it’s taunting me!”-

-”What are you even talking about?!”- 

-”Can’t you hear it?! The scratching?! The laughter?!”- she faced him, locking mismatched eyes with his shaded ones. Her expression was a mixture of anger and confusion. A new batch of fresh tears began to roll down her chin, mixing with the faint trail of blood coming out her bottom lip. Taken aback from this sight, he let her go.

-”Hear... what?”-

-”The shadow man!”- she said with exasperation. The scratching was coming from the other side of the main door, she could tell because it was practically mocking her at this point. Flug’s voice was already lost to her, the only thing flooding her senses was that obnoxious sound. Forcing the door, remembering she had _actual hands_ to pry it open, she managed to make it outside. 

The sun was nowhere to be seen, it was still too early for that.  A faint smell of humidity and dew granting her a few nanoseconds of clearness. The front row of cookie-cutter houses that greeted her with their opaque faded colors reminded her she wasn’t on a cellar anymore. She could go outside and feel the damp soil giving onto her weight, the make-believe suburbs were a considerable upgrade to the granite walls she was so used to. However, her brain couldn’t take in all these details right now, no. 

She was busy trying to find the source of that horrible laughter that threatened to make her ears bleed. Lowering her gaze, she found it. It’s bulgy buggy eyes peering from the spaces in between the floorboards, underneath the porch, snickering. Leaping towards the grass patch they called front yard, Demencia paced quickly from side to side, and then, without uttering a single word, she ripped open one of the boards that protected the lower steps of the entrance, wood splitting as easy as if it were a mere twig.

Neither the nasty splinters getting under her nails or the scratches she was causing herself were enough to make her stop. Flug rushed towards her, still loss at words of what he should do. The girl then halted, and her eyes darted towards the lower panels beneath the front steps. Moving with unsettling speed, she fell onto her knees and plunging her left arm forward and began to move it as if trying to catch something. The doctor was trying to figure out how to pull her out since she could easily get bitten by any critter at this rate, and he highly doubted their boss would be keen on getting her medical insurance against rabies. His forte was chemistry and mechanics, not biology.

-”What the heck, Demencia!”- he barked, jumping to her side, grabbing her by the waist and trying to get her away from the filthy nook. The ravenette wouldn’t budge, instead she began to frantically launch herself forward, clearly not willing to let go whatever she had caught. But soon, because of Flug’s “assistance”, her pray had chosen to wiggle its way out from Demencia’s grip. After plunging her out, a brown blur of fur zigzagged erratically emerged at lighting speed, viciously panting.  He could finally see what was the source of her bizarre behavior.

It was a considerably sized racoon, with bald spots on its tail and little pointy fangs that made Flug shiver. The thing even had yellow puke-like foam all over its snout, which clearly meant it was infected, or at the very least carrying some sort of disease. Once more, he reached for his partner’s arm. This time she didn’t pull away -”Okay, listen to me. I will run to the left and you will go to the right, and then I use my gun to… WAIT!”- Before he could end his explanation, she had already ran towards the animal with a very unladylike snarl. 

There it was. The source of her current headache.

Demencia was sure of it, but for some reason, the skinny scientist seemed to be oblivious to it, even when the animal began cackling like a human would have! No matter. She would take care of it. The raccoon's milky white pupils locked into hers, which only made her growl. The already mangled form of the critter was slowly making itself the sole focus point of her senses, slowly draining all the colors of his surroundings. Soon, she would only be able to see him, and **that other hideous thing**.

_-”It’S YoUR FaULT I’m LIKe tHIs”-_

Behind him, crawling in all four, a pitch black silhouette was beginning to fusion itself with the animal. It looked like any other raccoon, but Demencia knew better than that. After all, it wasn’t the first time she saw this shadow lurking, waiting for the ideal time to pounce and take her as her mental health slowly degraded itself. She was scared, her knees shaking uncontrollably, but she was even more fed up with this taunting. Wearing the raccoon as a muppet, it pretended to sob while crying for help, mimicking the exact same words she had used before.

-”moOMy, plEASe heLP mE”-

Forgetting about Flug, she launched herself straight into it, leaping and effectively grabbing the animal by the nape. The small creature trashed, scratched and even attempted to chomp her fingers, to no avail. Not a second later, she cracked it with both hands. the scientist let out a surprised gag and covered his non-existent mouth over his paper bag mask once blood started to ooze out of its nasal orifices. Gurgling, the poor critter’s body spasmed for a bit before finally staying limp on her vice grip.

She proceeded to squish the skull of the raccoon, ever so slowly, gradually increasing the pressure to savor the moment when the hollow bone would give up and let out that satisfying crunchy sound. Unconsciously she was licking her lips in anticipation. It was just like when Black Hat had manhandled her earlier over his desk, the power she had over the mangled corpse was simply delightful.

It almost felt orgasmic.

_And suddenly, Flug’s slap snapped her awake._

Before she could realize, warm crimson liquid slipped through her fingers, leaving a glossy trail behind, staining her black and white vision. The squishy sensation of the guts under her grip was odd, she didn’t even remember splitting the poor thing in half. It felt like grabbing freshly made sausages but with the distinctly metallic smell only blood could leave behind. 

The splatter she had caused was so wide that part of the entrance was dripping with ruby droplets, as well from her once white sweater. Blinking a few times, she stared towards Flug. Her expression wasn’t fixed on a scowl now, she just looked plain disoriented. Part of her face was hidden behind messy strands of hair, and as she switched her eyes between the raccoon’s body and Flug as the fog inside her brain began to dissipate. 

The young male remained silent, he was afraid of breaking the stillness of the moment, and also concerned to be her next victim for what he had just done. The girl then slowly raised her head and gave him a sheepish grin.

-”Oops...!”-

Demencia dropped her arms to her sides, but her grip on the deceased animal was still firm as she walked into the manor again. Flug immediately jumped away from her, trying to avoid getting hit by any of the liquids dripping from the corpse. The thing was still wheezing its last breaths, twitching as life escaped him. His butcher, however, looked as lively and perky as any girl of her age could be. Now that the **_disgusting shadow_ ** was gone, she could resume her day as if nothing ever happened.

She had erased all the filthy surrounding her. **For now**.

Dropping the now dead animal carcass on the top shelf nearby the entrance, she patted it, as if she were praising it, and then turned around. As she walked towards her partner in crime, their eyes met and he could have sworn that her right eye was twinkling on own. Literally glowing, as if it were one of those defective Christmas lights that flicker every 2 seconds, only to stop completely at the most random times. She then blinked a few times, as if she had read her thoughts, and rubbed both eyes with the back of her right hand, smearing the blood over her face even further.

The glow was gone.

-”What the fuck…”- he whispered.

He thought she said she liked raccoons. He was 100% positive that the 30-minute lecture she gave him a few days ago about how to properly deworm one happened and it wasn’t fake small talk. She had even left small treats around the manor because she wanted a pet raccoon, but now… now she had killed one of them? Out of frustration? Anger?... _fun?_ The possibilities were too many, all equally possible without taking a cup of coffee first. 

He then realized he didn’t know enough about her to actually pull out a single solid conclusion. She was still the strange lady who crashed in the room across the hall that occasionally played pranks on everyone. Heck, to this day none of them, _not even Black Hat himself,_ knew her real name. -”Isn’t such a fine morning? C’mon, let’s go and grab something to eat, I’m starving!”- suddenly breaking the silence, she pushed him playfully to aside with her shoulder and went ahead of him, giving little skips to get to her destination faster. Meanwhile, the poor man had taken care of her victim, picking it up with clear disgust on his features.

-”Ew, ew, ew, ew…”-

The kitchen was within just a few steps now, the rich dark wooden floors of the main living area changed into creamy white tiles. All the furniture were from different styles and colors, as if the owner of the house bought piece by piece instead of buying a whole set. At first sight, it looked awful, an old fashioned round shaped white fridge, a rusty black stove with 4 burners, black wood cabinets, only the counter and the Isle were made of something that resembled black marble, all chairs were made of different kinds of wood and fabrics. There was also a big dark chocolate pantry and a huge soft red tinted glass on the back that served as both sources of natural lighting and exit to a small backyard. Since it was still early the lights were on, a warm and oddly welcoming feeling could be perceived.

Over the counter, a big pile of blueberry pancakes, along with a small honey pot, could be seen. The blue furred bear addressed as 5.0.5 was behind them, trying to figure out how to add whipped cream with his thumbless paws. He raised his eyes for a second from his task at “hand” and almost dropped the can. His jaw clenched and a small whine escaped his throat when he saw the girl taking a sit on the isle of the spacious kitchen.

Behind her, the scientific sighed as he rubbed his naked hands with something that smelled like antiseptic and walked directly towards the coffee maker to pour a full mug for himself. He would need at least 4 of these without sugar to calm down his shaky hands and erase the images on his head. Seeing guts out wasn’t a scenery unfamiliar to him, and although his methods were cleaner…it wasn’t lost to him that her style was more focused into prolonging pain, rather than snuffing out her target in one go. It was primitive and messy. Not to mention the whole “glowing eye” thing. Once he was able to chug down his first caffeine intake, he went for the second one.

Eyeing her over the rim of his mug, she did seem to be better now… somehow the menacing aura she had earlier was gone and her mismatched amber eye wasn’t gleaming anymore. He should really hurry up and finish his boss request: the full body scanner. He had the feeling that maybe she could be hiding, not entirely consciously, something from them.

-“Oh! Are those pancakes? Yummy!”- grabbing a plate, she didn’t waste a single second and stacked her mouth with three forkfuls of the sugary batter, the fluffy texture complemented with the acid of the blueberries making her hum happily. -”If goffa gife if if  fo ‘ya, bif guf”- she spoke with her both of her cheeks full -”Fif ish amashing!”- Audible swallowing, she let out a contempt sigh before leaning into the counter with a big smile, extending her plate towards 5.0.5.

-”Seconds please!”-

The smudge of blood she tried to wipe away before was now all over her face, like some sort of creepy war paint decoration. Flug just gagged and tried his best not to spill what was left of his coffee while holding the rest inside his stomach. 5.0.5 just gave her an absolute cringe face and took a few steps back, but still pushed with the tip of his spatula the plate with the rest of the pancakes as if she were some sort of wild animal that could bite his paw off.

Not like any of them would dare to eat from the same source she had touched with her filthy hands anyways.

Flug had to turn around and focus his eyes on something else, this was too disturbing and highly antigenic. Fixing his eyes on his mug he willed himself to remember the whole periodic table to calm down. He could handle a little blood, he was a mad scientist for crying out loud, this wasn’t the first _-nor be the last_ \- time he witnessed a brutal beating, but what made him feel uncomfortable was how she seemed to…enjoy it for no apparent reason. Peeking from the corner of his eye he watched her licking the honey off her fingers, along with some of the leftover blood.

A familiar shiver went down his spine.

It was like she did this on a whim. She didn’t had a good reason to act violently, at least not that he was aware of, although she did mention something about a noise before she turned into a feral wildcat. Similar to a volatile component, it seemed like she was susceptible to certain sounds, which he would most certainly research in deep later on. Something had to trigger those reactions. He was no psychiatrist, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t normal behavior, even for victims of past abuse.

He truly felt sorry for her. Maybe there was still time to help her out, get her some professional assistance and hopefully heal some of her emotional wounds. He didn’t know for sure how long she had been in that smelly cellar, and actually surprised him when she didn’t run away from the Organization the first chance she got. Probably because she didn’t have anywhere to go anyway… that was so sad. She was still so young and full of life...she reminded him of...

-”Yo, nerd! Are you gonna drink that?”- not even waiting for a reply she snatched the lukewarm mug of his hands and took a long audible gulp. She didn’t even bother cleaning her hands before touching it, so now it had bloody fingerprints all over. Just great. - “Ugh, so bitter!”- she rolled her tongue to the side, scrunching her nose a little bit as she did so -”What are your plans for today? I did my homework as you asked me to last week, I think I might have something good to share!”-

-”First things first, you need to change your clothes. You have some...stuff… all over you”- he drew an imaginary pattern over his chest to make his point. She glanced down to her own chest and then looked back at him.

-”Can’t I just say it’s a ketchup stain or something?”-

Nevermind.

She was truly demential.


	4. Chapter 4

After insisting that yes, she needed an urgent cleansing and no, it couldn’t be passed as a kool-aid stain either, both males were left alone for a while in comfortable silence while the girl was taking a quick shower upstairs to make herself presentable again. Flug began to absentmindedly chewing on a piece of bacon under his paper mask. 

5.0.5 was kind enough to cook one more time so he wouldn’t starve until lunch time. He was pretty sure that pancakes would be off the table for at least for a month, and his mug was Demencia’s propriety now because he refused to drink from “ _a contaminated recipient_ ”, no matter how much soap his creation had used to kill the possible surviving microorganisms. The blood was washed away already, but he still felt like it wasn’t hygienic drinking from it anymore. Not with all the possible bacteria animal fluids carried. Just thinking about it made him feel nauseous again.

On a merrier note, Flug really enjoyed eating salty and crispy things, so beacon was definitely something that would work as comfort food after some random bloodshed and losing his precious mug. The cuddly bear was now on his left side,  taking off a white apron. He really didn’t need to use clothes at all, since the scientist made sure to design his fur extra thick so things like hot oil would just slip through, akin to how a membrane would work, so his sensitive skin and other sensitive areas were safe from any potential harm. However, he seemed to enjoy dressing up as a human anyways. 

-“You know, I could build a cooking self-sufficient robot or something like that”- he said nonchalantly-“ You don’t really have to…-”- 5.0.5 placed a fluffy paw over his head, offering him a soft smile. The animal couldn't really reply, but his snout was really expressive for a bear. Sighing, Flug raised his left hand and 5.0.5 quickly bent down a little, offering him the top of his head. Carefully, the scientist petted him and scratched that sweet spot behind his small ears. The bear was so happy, his flower wiggled and a deep rumble that could be interpreted as a purr, reverberated on his chest. Black Hat would often label this project as a failure, a waste of resources and a sad take on what he had thought to be a lethal weapon for the manor protection. Perhaps his boss had expected some sort of giant Cerberus, a feral beast with nothing to offer but bloodlust. It was easy to dismiss 5.0.5 as a threat...but that was because no one had seen his performance outside the testing chambers of his lab. 

A loud coughing snapped him out of his train of thought.

-”Geez, go get a room you two”- Demencia was leaning on the kitchen’s entrance, arms crossed over her chest. Her voice was playful and the grin on her face indicated that she was already back to her old self. She was insufferable like this, but they both liked her better this way. Her clothes were a bit different, now instead of a sweater, she had a black tank top that showed off her soft curves. Her body wasn’t too voluptuous but she did have a decent cleavage, he noticed.

Flug just cleared his throat a little bit and settled back into his seat. -”So, what’s the report in your progress?”-

-”I’ve been reading the news as you said, and I think I am familiar with the most relevant events that happened on the last three years.”- she replied, with a somewhat serious semblance. For a few hours, ever since she had woken up, she was instructed to get acquaintance with the new technology, modern, popular t.v programming and even some information about the stock market, although that last one was a futile attempt on Flug’s part trying to test if his recovery drug had somehow enhanced her intelligence as well.

 -”And?”- he urged her on -”What about how we run our business?”-

-”You guys sell stuff by catalog, right?”- bending a little bit and placing her elbows on the same surface as him, giving  the paper bag genius a bored expression as she picked some non-existent dirt under her nails “Like, destructive weapons and gadgets?”-

-”Well….yes, but you are making it sound like it’s something stupid”- her partner replied back, making what she was guessing it was a frown, judging by the way his goggles gained one more shade of black -”We cater a specific need, our clients are the most refined and powerful entities ruling the underground. Black Hat organization is…”-

-”A catalog service”- she deadpanned.

-”Demencia!”- his voice gained a few more octaves, even making 5.0.5 wince a little bit -”Don’t go around saying that! If Mr. Black Hat hears you referring to his company like this he will throw you out of here before you can say chimichanga!”-

-”Wow. Was that supposed to be funny or racist?”- she said sticking out the tip of her tongue -”Not because I’m Mexican it means all spanish words are related to my culture, thank you very much”-

-”Whatever!”- he dismissed waving his left hand -”The main issue here is that you must learn the basics of what we do. Mistakes are not something we are allowed to make! Up until now, it’s been only 5.0.5 and me, but now that you are also in, you need to familiarize yourself with… Demencia! Are you even listening to a word of what I’m saying?!”-

-”Yeah, yeah”- the girl replied, rolling her eyes and swinging herself back and forth with the strength of her legs. Of course, she knew all about this, it wasn’t like the girl was completely oblivious to her situation. As much as she was grateful to Flug for all he had done so far, he could really bring her down with his constant nagging. She was a slow learner, not an idiot. And she was going to prove him wrong. -”Listen, dork. I haven’t been wasting my time like you might think I have. For once I did my homework right so shut up and listen my whole “report”-” the ravenette made sure to use air quotes to emphasize her point -”Before coming at me with your yapping.”-

Visibly angry, but willing to listen, he crossed his arms and waited for her to continue.

-”I’m aware the kind of people Black Hat deals on a daily basis”- she didn’t miss the slight flinching both male henchman made when she didn’t refer to him with an honorific. She grinned mischievously. -”The catalog includes not only common weapons, although most of them are required to be nonlethal which is kind of a bummer. The private requests though… those are far more interesting. Heat controlled nano-sized missiles? An artifact that summons portable lighting? Special OPS camouflage that actually makes you virtually invisible on any moving environment? Now _those_ are fun toys.”- Demencia said tapping the counter with her index -”Sadly those are the special orders, which I’m assuming we don’t get all that often because access to this information is only possible when Black Hat himself sells the goods.”- at this point, Flug was already impressed with how she had managed to simplify a month worth of operations, but he refused to let it show. His pride wouldn’t allow him to let her feel even more confident than she already was.

-”A third of the shipping we currently make is made personally by you, or, well, judging by the name on the accounts I found on your computer it has to be at least a human being”- tilting her head to the side, she rose an eyebrow -”Unless you are hiding some sort of wacky shapeshifting power from me, carebear?”- 5.0.5 only poked her tongue out and gave her an impossible innocent look -”Yeah. Thought so.”-

-”Wait a minute”- Flug picked the bridge of his nose over his paper bag mask, threatening to make a tear on it with all the careless crumbling - “ Did you just mentioned using MY computer? How did you…?”-

-”Well, one thing led to another and when I got bored of reading the newspaper clips and...”- she said waving her hand, as if what she just said was something normal. The young scientist stood up from his stool rather violently, the dragging sound of the metal over the wooden floor made 5.0.5’s sensitive ears to flop down.

-”Do you have any idea of how sensitive is the information I have there?!”- frantically, he pulled out a brand new smartphone out of his pant pockets, immediately checking all his different accounts. It seemed like none of his personal information was changed or tampered with, which itself was a relief. However, when he saw his AmaZone account profile picture changed from a Boeing 737 to what seemed to be a cute rubber penis head with “uwu” face. She braced herself for the imminent lash out. 

\- “YOU HACKED MY ACCOUNT?!”-

-”It’s hardly called hacking if your password is _TheAmazingDrFlug1234_ ” - she replied, her brows knitting into a frown -“What kind of evil mastermind leaves his password on his bed stand? I’m not that stupid, nerd, I want to help out too”- grabbing a piece of burnt bacon, she threw it towards his face, which ended up bouncing towards 5.0.5 who was so concerned upon watching his two humans fight he began to shiver. He looked at Flug, confused about what he should do.

\- “I’m part of the team now and it’s only fair I earn my place.”- Demencia said, remembering what her boss had told her -”I might not be as smart as you are, but sure as heck can learn and help around.”- On her mind, the image of Black Hat pinning her down replayed over and over. Her skin gave her a pleasurable, yet awkward, shock that ran all over her spine. Meanwhile, Flug was just trying to keep his cool, and failing miserably at it.  He could take all her nasty pranks, the obvious sexual innuendos she threw at their boss, heck, he could even stand her impulse for animal violence, but she had crossed a line messing with his private stuff. 

-”And you waited a week to tell me this?”- his voice was strained, clearly still pissed off with her doing. She caught on that he wasn’t in the mood to take any more of her sarcasm, so she stood up straight and remained as serious as possible. She had to reel him in a little. -”I was thinking, since I don’t have a _special_ talent or whatever, I could make myself useful, by promoting what we sell”- pulling a few fingers up, she continued - “I noticed you only send 1 to 3 packages every 2 months or so, that’s kind of  lame.”-

Flug clicked his tongue in annoyance. 

-”And what makes you think you can sell our things better than we do right now?”-crossing his arms, he added- ”Do I need to remind you who got here first?”- 5.0.5 could tell his friend was still angry. The scientist was really overprotective and territorial when he wanted to be, the bear didn’t know for sure why but he always seemed to get too sensitive when it involved his personal belongings. Especially when someone touched his models. Well, he was only 21 after all, still young and impulsive despite being the mad scientist of the organization. The blue furry mammal just huffed and took seat beside him. The only thing he could do for now was listen.

-”For starters, I think that out of the four of us I’m the most attractive if you know what I mean.”- she said, moving from her side of the counter and instead walking towards them. 5.0.5 let out an offended whine, the girl turned around and gave him a smile while patting his snout- ”No offense hun, you are as cute as a button, but people don’t like things that could probably  kill them while hugging”- The big animal just grunted and lowered his head in defeat, grabbing some of the leftover bacon to munch on quietly. At the same time, the young boy stood up rather violently and slammed a hand on the marble counter, which was a terrible idea because the material was so hard he could feel a painful sting creeping from the tip of his hand to his elbow. He completely forgot he wasn’t wearing his latex gloves. Inside his mind, he thanked his mask for concealing his expression of absolute regret. 

-”Excuse me, I’m a perfectly functional male specimen!”- 

Demencia only arched an eyebrow

-”Of course you are, sweetheart.  Normal people always wear lunch paper bags on their heads to express individuality” - A bit taken aback from the sudden pet name, he cleaned his throat once again. 

-”It’s not a lunch bag!”-pointing at his face and his scowl noticeable even under the layer of paper-”It’s a grocery store bag styled artifact! It’s more resistant, the material is easier to breathe through and …-”

-”Whatever you say, José “- dismissing his comment with a handwave she continued -” We are in like friggin 2017 right? We should update the way we sell things, only grandpas use physical catalogs and newspaper ads”- 

-”What’s your _amazing_ idea then? Is not like we can go around, throwing flyers to anyone we cross on the streets or ringing doorbells to preach the unholy world of Black Hat Corporation”-

-”That’s the thing! We don’t have to go outside to make yourself known, we have the technology to make something even better! Like a Live Streaming quality products, kind of like, show!”- she attempted to make jazz hands with a smile, but judging for the look on 5.0.5’s face, she didn’t impress anyone- “But evil.”-she quickly added.

-”Like we had budget for something like that! Not to mention that a method like yours would easily give away our location, which I bet some law forces are pretty eager to get their hands on!”- Flug quickly dismissed it- ”Most of the villains we take care of are old anyways, I don’t know when was the last time you checked the heroic tabs but right now the whole “good vs evil” fight is no more. The winner was decided a long time ago.”- looking down at his plate were just a few oily specs remained, his voice suddenly dropped to a much softer tone-  “The only reason our organization is not dissolving in debts it’s because Mr. Black Hat has longtime acquaintances who only buy from him...we are not really...that big of a deal”- his words trailed off as he got deeper into his thoughts. Of course, they weren’t as popular. Heroes were all over the place squishing all sign of “ _evil_ ” they could find, and people liked it so, being a villain nowadays, and what more, actually admitting you were part of the “bad guys” was the same as asking to be pursued and eliminated. Only the smart ones could make it on this world now. 

Demencia’s voice pulled him out of his reflections.

-”But wouldn’t you guys earn more selling to the wanna-be villains as well? “- she leaned in to face him properly, his eyes weren’t visible through the thick shades but she knew he was looking into hers -”I bet that out there, there is a disturbed someone who wants to destroy- reshape the world order or something like that and needs tools to do so! And of course, we would keep the best ones! Just think about it, Flug! There’s a whole lot more out there, more than fancy rich old farts who could get us even bigger amounts of dough with the proper advertisement!”-

The boy just remained silent. He seemed to be evaluating her proposal and she took advantage of that.  

-”We could try and make it attractive, like, buy 2 and get an extra for free?”- 

He slammed a hand into his face. She almost had him. Almost.

“You want to sell death rays, particle disintegrators, specialized camouflage equipment and chemical weapons to a random person for 9.99$?!”-

-”It doesn’t have to be big! A reduced version would be more than enough!”-

Flug turned around and dismissed her comment waving his hand. The anger within him was so high right now, his whole body was slightly shaking. -”It would be like, like, like giving a friggin bomb to a toddler! Do you have any idea how dangerous this idea could be?! How many people could result harmed?!”- Selling weapons to unknown wicked people made difficult enough his sleep. If he made his inventions available to everyone then he would be responsible for many more deaths. He was ok with Black Hat using his science to his bid because _he_ was the one who took the blame for him. His conscience was clean as long as he didn’t know who was getting his inventions, but selling them on the open market… everyone would know he was the one behind everything.

Everyone would notice **him.** And he couldn’t take that kind of responsibility. 

-”Oh? _Now_ you care about that? You’ve been selling weapons to villains already! Older, wiser, filthy rich men and women who probably used your inventions to their own gain! We could make much more if we focused on the small ones too!”-

-”This is different!”-

-”How so?!”- she leaned on the table and grabbed him from his shoulder, gripping his lab coat lapels and forcing him to bend her way. He was much more easy to catch out of guard than Black Hat for sure.- “Tell me, cabrón, how the fuck is that any different if people get harmed anyways?!”- 

Flug was speechless, mostly because she was right and no matter what he said. There was no way he could win this argument, so, he just looked away from her. The bear wished so bad he could also talk and say something, the situation was escalating way too fast. He stood up slowly and prepared himself in case he had to break them apart. Demencia waited for 10 seconds before letting him go with a small push and a defeated sigh. He wasn’t going to talk to her anymore. She clicked her tongue, the ravenette didn’t mean to snap at him like this...but was her idea really that bad? No one was willing to take a chance on her idea?

\- “Mark my words nerd, I’m gonna make this work. For Black Hat’s..., no, for the sake of all of us”- 

Flug just hugged himself and stared at the ground. 

Turning around, she stormed out the kitchen. She wasn’t sure if she could make it alone. The female had kind of hoped to convince him to help her out with the logistics of her plan. Truly, she had no idea how to talk to other villains, or how to even locate them. If she really wanted to give this live stream idea a try, she would need cameras, microphones, whatever people used nowadays, to do any of that crap. Technology wasn’t her strong suit right now either. Learning from the basics after 3 years without being even near a cell phone wouldn’t help her at all, but she still had to try. Money would be an issue too. She highly doubted Black Hat would ever grant them an open credit card to buy things that weren’t strictly for his sake. 

A whole bunch of possible scenarios ran through her head, spiking her ever-growing anxiety and making those blueberry pancakes swirl inside her stomach on the most unpleasant way possible. Turning around, she was heading directly to the front door when she was stopped by a fluffy paw over her head. Raising her head, she was greeted by kind enormous chocolate eyes and a big fanged smile. 

-”Heh”-  Relief washed her over when the familiar face greeted her. Apparently, there was someone who wanted to support her after all. She would take whatever luck threw into her way, even if it were a giant blue bear with a daisy. He was really something else, such a stupid, easy-going, tamed, soft-hearted beast. -”We are going to need a ride or at least someone who can show us how to get to the nearest mall. We need to loot some supplies. think you can help me?”- 5.0.5 just pointed at the entrance. At the left side of the main door, there was a wooden keyboard with multiple same shaped keys. She quickly ran off and studied closely the display. There were at least 30 different keys, none of them looked like it could lead to a car or transport of any sorts. Her fluffy companion seemed as lost as her, maybe because he was an animal and couldn’t actually drive, or perhaps he had never left the mansion on the first place which could explain why he was so perplexed.

-”Well, don’t worry about it,  we can always take the bus…”- 

A skinny pale hand interrupted slamming itself on the panel right over her shoulder and picked the third-row black hat-shaped key without hesitation. Demencia only grinned, not even turning around, instead moving to the side and pushing down the handles of the main door to open it. 5.0.5 let a happy growl out and hugged his creator slightly before rushing outside in all four paws.

-”Knew you would come around, you fucking pussy “-

Flug pressed the hidden button on the key’s top hat and somewhere on the driveway, a loud single beep could be heard.

-”Like hell I’m going to let you drive, you crazy bitch” -she could practically hear him smirk- ”But first...let me go get changed.”-


	5. Chapter 5

-” Okay, let’s see if I understood correctly”-  while Flug was driving, his partner gave him a halfhearted nod. She wasn’t all that unfamiliar to the suburban landscape, if anything, she had expected to see it after they exited the parking spot on the manor. However, what she had not expected was when the van drove right into the docks and just when she thought Flug might crash them into the salty water, a set of black jet wings had propped out from the sides of their ride, effectively raising them a few meters on the air thanks to their initial impulse. Soon, they were at least 10 feet off the ground and still gaining altitude, to the point she could roll her window down and grab a handful of fluffy white icy clouds.

Inside the van, the space was kind of limited, but still manageable. The seats were made of comfy creamy leather, so even without calefaction inside they were pretty warm. The windshield looked a bit dirty, tiny specs of dust made some parts of the visual field look blurry, but asides from that everything else was spotless, with a faint fragrance of pine, much to 5.0.5’s demise. They rarely used the van, mostly because their main ship was reserved for special deliveries only, but when they had errands to run that required contact with the outside world, such as grocery shopping, Flug was given permission to use the first prototype he ever made upon his arrival. The looks it carried were delivered, the idea was blending in without raising any suspicion from unwanted witnesses. Its simple black glossy painting was more than enough to serve this purpose.

-”You want us to start selling our items  on instructional tapes, like in the seventies, showing off the perks of each product so others can order from us without finding our location.”-

-”Huhuh”-

-” Only small ones, not so menacing weapons or gadgets, so we can still have the upper hand. And avoid being sued.”-

-”Pretty much.”-

-”And you want Mr. Black Hat himself to present it. **_The_ ** Black  Hat. **_The_ ** demon who could, quite literally, provoque multiple seizures with a mere glance, **_the..._ **-  ”-

-”Yes, Exactly.”- she cut him off with a cheshire like grin -”Isn’t it great? This way we stay out of the radar while we improve our branding and whatnot. Plus VHS are pretty appealing nowadays, right? Vintage is the new aesthetic! Or so it said on those weird fashion blogs I saw back then… why do you even keep those tags in your compu…”-

-”Anyways!”- he interjected -”Even if we manage to get all the things we might need to emulate a VHS today, you do realize is going to take us more than a month to set up everything? Not to mention we will have to tell **_him_ ** first”- the scientist visibly shivered at the mere thought of presenting this idea to their boss. For sure he would get scolded **_and slapped_ ** for leaving his work on hold, only to humor Demencia and her crazy ideas. 

Tightening his grip on the wheel, he proceeded to vent out all his discomfort -”I don’t even know if he can be captured by a normal camera… there’s a reason why we only have paintings of him on the manor and not actual photographs! This is going to take me at the very least a couple of weeks to do since my schedule is already pretty crammed and I’m guessing most of the heavy work is going to be _MY_ responsibility, despite this being _YOUR_ stupid idea. But does anyone even care? No. Why? Because you all take my work for granted! It’s stressful enough already trying to meet up with all the deadlines! Now you are just adding more work into my plate, without even offering me an extra payment or anything! If I were you I would start spending less time prying into people’s private accounts and focusing more into…. are you even listening to me?!”-

Staring right into the copilot side, his partner was already lost to the beauty of the landscape. After so long, she almost forgot how the city looked like and it was even more breathtaking from a bird side view. As they slowly descended over the less cramped area, she could make out even more details. The streets looked different, dirtier and busier, filled up with an inharmonious mix of honks and fragmented conversations. She hadn’t expected to be lead to one of the most busier states _(heck, she was happy enough to be on the same dimension)_ , but she did kind of miss the green scenery they had back at the organization. Everything seemed so industrial, so grey, so very dead and dull. The only hints of true color were all local business that had white flower crowns on their doorsteps or displays. Practically plastering her face against the crystal, she eagerly soaked in all the information her eyes were receiving.

-”Yeah, yeah. You are totally right”- pressing her index finger into the glass, she tapped it a few times to emphasize what she was looking at - “Since when Star U Bucks shops are placed so close to each other? I think we already passed by around 3 other and they all sell the same god damn thing! This is crazy!” - a pack of teenagers then exited the establishment, all of them talking rather cheerfully while sipping into their overpriced muddy water. She quickly whipped her head back when one of the males made eye contact with her.

-"Demencia, focus! And please, seatbelt!” -sighing, the young scientist tried to give her a side glance without missing the road out of his vision field. She completely ignored his seatbelt comment and flipped him off. Well, whatever. - “Ok, I will admit your plan is … not so ridiculous, but!”- he hurried to add the “but” when he saw her grinning triumphantly- “I still think this might not be the best solution to our problems”- 5.0.5, who was trying his best to be comfortable on the back of the van, whined when the girl who was sitting in front of him smacked the ceiling of the vehicle out of frustration. 

-” Why not? Is not like I’m asking you to build a psychic ray or something to make people buy our crap, there’s nothing illegal on this! Anyone can buy stuff through their landlines! We need to take some risks to make a profit instead of living off giving away your work to rich snobs who will never give you any recognition!”- flushing half of her body, she turned around towards the window again -“Aren’t you tired of others taking all the credit?”-

Demencia was trying her best to help the organization out, but she couldn’t do much on her own. She knew she had to learn how to cooperate with her teammates if she wanted to win that bet, but at the same time this frustrated her, because more often than not  she felt like her ideas were dismissed for being childish and overall useless to her boss, well, compared to what Flug could do anyways. Even 5.0.5 could do things like cooking and cleaning with ease, and those weren’t even bear things! The nerd should be grateful he still had something valuable that others desired. Huffing, the girl decided to chew on her inner cheek to calm herself down.

Flug gave up and remained in silence for the rest of the ride, searching for a discrete parking spot. The only thing that could be heard were 5.0.5 frustrated grunts because he was still trying to find a comfortable position. His massive frame barely contained by the backspace. Truly, the gentle giant was really anxious to break the tension between both young adults, ever worried for their well being. He sometimes wished he could speak the human language and make everyone feel better.

5.0.5 knew that no one on the house would actually take care properly of themselves, his master included. They all needed someone who could look after them 24/7, to make sure they were properly fed and their surroundings remain clean, so he made those his daily chores. At first, he thought that this behavior would get him praises because let’s face it, all pet desire the unconditional love of the people who give them shelter. And although Black Hat wasn’t the warmest of owners, he knew he appreciated his work in silence.

It was the same with the other two residents. Flug was such a careless person, when he got into his inventions there was no force that could compel him out of his chair. He was just a hard worker, always trying his best despite only getting insults out of their boss. The young male  was actually a frail kid with the desire to change the world. But, for good or bad? that was something 5.0.5 wasn’t sure yet. The only thing he knew for sure was that he needed to eat at least 3 times per day or else he could faint, and after those 2 near-to-death experiences where he worked his ass off until his nose bleed. After that incident 5.0.5 made sure he had his meals with the precision of an English clock. 

Demencia on the other hand, she was still a mystery to him. She was...okay? The bear wasn’t all that convinced about her. She was rude, obnoxious, violent and sometimes she played some nasty pranks just to get a good laugh... and that was the main reason he worried about her. She was forcing “funny” situations to make herself laugh off all the issues she didn’t want to talk about.

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the young scientist.

-”I’m... not saying you are wrong, what I mean, is that, well... villains on this town are not really well known and this might backfire for us. They take all the help they can get because, in the end, it’s the whole world against just a handful of us.”- tilting the wheel carefully, they turned left -“You’ll see what I’m talking about when we get to the main street.”-

As soon as they finished taking the turn, black ribbons and massive white flowers arrangements could be seen decorating every single corner of the main square. The air suddenly became sickeningly sweet.  A huge digital screen projected the image of a raven-haired man wearing a golden masquerade and white cape, striking various heroic poses working as some sort of bizarre monument. The sign below his feet was visible even from their point of view, and they were still a few blocks away from the nearest parking lot: “WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU, GOLDEN HEART. FAITHFUL ALLY OF THE JUSTICE AND LOVED BROTHER OF 3. REST IN PEACE.”

Demencia only stared blankly at the decorations for a while, her brain putting 2 and 2 together as her stomach sunk: This was a memorial place. A large group of people was gathering under the screen, leaving sunflowers and white roses. A big portion of them were small kids who were wearing masks that resembled the one Golden Heart had as a trademark, along with makeshift capes from what it looked like their pillow bedding.  A hum she would later recognize as sobs echoed the deserted streets. Everyone seemed to be there exclusively to present their respects to the symbolic altar. Before she could say anything, the young scientist spoke.

-”Golden Heart was a renowned hero on this part of the city. He was like some sort of almighty entity, you know? He was the only hero with no true superpowers, only his wit, and up until certain point I…”- he hesitated - ”I kind of admired him too...”-shaking his head, as if trying to get rid of a sudden memory, he added- “ His record was unmatched on this area, lowering the crime rates to a whopping 0.01%. Most of our clients on this part of the town left us because it wasn’t profitable investing in something that couldn’t beat him for sure without turning him into a martyr. We had accepted this and eventually moved to other areas for new scouting. Mr. Black Hat said he didn’t need cowards as partners in business, and so we forgot all about him. But then, we got a tip from an _“acquaintance”_ of Mr. Black Hat’s. Certain rumors began to appear on the underground, speaking about a research he was making… a way to create a new type of bioweapon that for sure would eradicate all evil from this earth.”-

Demencia just remained silent staring at her fiddling thumbs. He couldn’t see her face right now, but if she lashed out it would be understandable. This was an uncomfortable situation, a sensitive topic, and this was the real reason why Flug didn’t want her to come alone to the city. With her sudden anger outbursts, lack of social skills and foul language she was practically asking to be thrown into the nearest juvie. She could easily crack the neck of a kid if it cried long enough to piss her off.

When she first arrived, she had been way more reserved. Not even once she had attempted to explain what was she doing on that cellar, or how she got there. They all noticed how she had some difficulties to eat solids, but that didn’t stop her from eating like a famished animal. For 3 days straight she would vomit after eating too much, yet she kept doing it as if it were her last day in front of a plate with food  She was like a wild animal learning how to be civilized again; only spoke when Black Hat did and wouldn’t get out of her room on day hours, she used to sleep under her bed and flinched each time someone raised his voice. No one knew her side of the story and no one asked her either, because the blanks could be easily filled up. Pulling over a nearby empty park meter, Flug decided to break the uncomfortable muteness. 

-”I still don’t know the full story. I only know we found his hiding spot, and instead of blueprints for a weapon… we found you”- The girl turned around slowly, her short bangs hiding her defective eye, and asked softly:-” And that’s a bad thing?”- Both the blue bear and the scientist were speechless, this was the first time since they met her that she actually spoke with a calm, serene, even cute, voice. 

-”W-well, no, I guess? I don’t - huh…”- Flug could feel how small droplets of sweat were falling from his temple, all the way down to his neck. He wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction at all -”It’s… ah… I mean, I’m glad we found you, not because you could be a potentially destructive weapon or anything. Oh my God that sounded awful, ah… I mean, it’s good we found you because now you are safe and you don’t have to be, you know, uh, what I’m trying to say is - “- she interrupted him placing her whole palm over his face, effectively shutting him up. And he was glad for it because he was getting really nervous. He was terrible explaining things when he got anxious.

-”Shut up already nerd, with the “no” was enough”- Slowly, she dropped her hand and stared at it for a while. Her head was starting to hurt around her templates. She thought that she would never have to deal with anything Golden Heart related topics, at least for a while. Of all places in America, she had to end up in the city where people worshiped the man who scarred her for life. She couldn’t live her whole life like this… when she took Black Hat’s offer she made up her mind, she was going to put her past behind her and move on. 

Dead people couldn’t hurt her anymore. 

-”We still need to get those supplies, you said Black Hat checks the bank accounts so we need to shoplift all the basic filming gear, right?”- Demencia said, brushing the loose strands of hair behind her ear -”That should be easy enough, everyone is busy bawling their eyes for… him”- she grimaced. The doctor sighed and leaned back on his seat, rummaging for a few seconds on his coat pockets before pulling a thin piece of black cloth.

-”If we are doing this, you better leave it to the professionals. 5.0.5 and I can take care of it, and you can stand guard a few blocks down.”- extending a gloved hand towards her, he offered a simple eye patch -”We need to keep a low profile, do you understand?”- Demencia stared at the accessory for a bit, before smacking it.

-”I don’t need it.”-

-”Wh- Yes you do!”- Flug replied back, picking the discarded element and shoving it into her face -”You think they are not going to notice your other eye? They will probably make fun of you and pick on you for it, I know these people! They like to laugh and make people feel ashamed for what they look like!”-

-”You are just saying that to scare me! I don’t care what others think about me! No one even knows who I am so why should I give a flying fuck?”- she then pointed to herself -”All of me is hideous anyways, so whatever!”-

-”Demencia”- he warned, his voice turning menacing -”I am not giving you a choice with this. Put the eye patch on. Now.”-

-”Why?!”- she snapped back -”Why would they notice me when we have you going around with a paper bag face and giant blue bear over here?”- she barked -”Why am I any different from you?”-

-”Because!”- he said, practically screaming at this point -”Freaks like us are used to it but you didn’t choose to look like this!”- Crashing a fist over the claxon of the van, it was a miracle the thing didn’t howled to life with the amount of force he had used. She was physically taken aback by his words, flinching noticeably at his sudden outburst. His chest was rising up and down quite fast, and she was pretty sure if she could see his face, his expression would be...one of sadness. His gaze seemed to be fixated on her, but those black goggles wouldn’t let her tell for sure. Right then, 5.0.5 picked up from his hand the eye patch, only to gently placing it over Demencia’s defective eye with a small concerned smile.

-”Grawou?”- The female stared at both of them perplexed. After a few seconds of deafening silence, ever so slowly, she brought the piece of cloth and pressed it firmly into her face.

-”...fine.”-

It only took 5.0.5 a few seconds before he clicked in place the latch that held the piece in place. Blinking a few times, the girl was silently getting adjusted of having only one eye to navigate with. Flug remained silent, looking outside the window while drumming his fingers over his right knee. Feeling a bit self-conscious, she timidly poked his shoulder. Peering from the corner of his eye, the scientist mumbled a strained _“what”_.

-”So…”- Demencia offered a sheepish grin -”Do I look like I fit on the freak club yet?”- Before Flug could give her an answer, the trio was startled by a sudden slap on the pilot’s side window. Whipping his head around, the male was greeted by a buffed man with an unkempt beard, wearing one of Golden Heart’s masks. 

-”Get out of there and pay your respects, you maggots! Foreigners are only welcome here if they bring women, money or praise to our heroes!”- slamming once more on the glass he burped before spitting out -”Fucking weirdos!”- The man was clearly inebriated, Flug deduced, and so he pressed the green button over the stirring wheel. A small taser gun popped out from the capo, and promptly injected itself on the back of the rude intruder. His whole body began to twitch in the most hilarious way possible, reducing his obnoxious voice into incoherent blabber. Soon, he turned into ashes.

Demencia stared at the scene with a dumbfounded face, while 5.0.5 clapped as if he had seen an amusing little trick.

-”What?”- Flug said shrugging -”Is not like anyone is going to miss him!”- A short pause and then both of them laughed merrily, to the point Demencia had to wipe away a stray tear from her only visible eye. It all seemed so stupid and messed up, was there even a point trying to apparent being normal anymore? This was her new daily life. Dealing with crazy people, giant animals, and scary shadows. Truly, life had outdone itself to make her feel like she was part of a silly violent cartoon for kids.

After they calmed down, she looked over her shoulder and hesitated a bit before showing off a big grin- “You know… I do feel like we all need to pay some respects. You said you were okay on your own, right?”- without waiting for a reply she kicked open the door and jumped off, fast pacing towards the ever-growing crowd. 

-”What the- Demencia! No! Wait! 5.0.5!”- Flug turned around to see the bear already trying to pry open the back doors of the van already -“Don’t let her do anything harsh, we can’t cause trouble! This is a district under hero protection and we are not supposed to be here!”- The furred beast gave a quick nod before smashing the doors open with a headbutt. Once free, he used his four paws and rushed to get by the girl’s side. Flug, still struggling with this seatbelt, cursed under his breath -”Damn you safety driving education!!”- 

 

* * *

 

A few meters away, in the middle of the principal altar, a small pale girl with long bright twin red braids and big pink-colored round googles was trying her best to wipe her nose with the torn up sleeves of her once pristine forest green trench coat. The small sobs she tried to fight back into her throat made her hunch forward, her whole frame shivering due to the chilly air running through her bare thighs.  She was standing beside a tall blond woman, with her hair arranged in a stylish messy bun to gather all her rebellious curls. Her figure was a perfect hourglass, complemented by a tight strapped black dress, her shoulders, strong and tanned, were sprinkled with small white scales, decorating her whole back like a snowy cascade. 

The people surrounding them were keeping their distance, whispering. Some children pointing at them while trying to suppress their excitement but failing at it terribly.

-”Mom! Mom! Don’t you know who they are? They are the Golden Dúo!”-

-” That’s definitely Golden Wind, the youngest hero alive!”-

-”I could recognize those curves anywhere! That’s Golden Charm!”-

-”Do you think they will let me get a selfie if I ask them to?”-

Being admired by pretty much everyone was something both of them were already used to. People and media had been way more forceful on their previous district so this was actually a nice change. They could handle this level of thirst from die-hard hero fans. Posing for pictures, signing autographs, kissing an occasional baby... people just couldn’t get enough of the whole “superhero” crap. One would think that after almost 10 years of being out in the open the civilians would get tired of them eventually, but they were still fascinated with “plus humans”. 

**So annoying.**

-”When I find out who did this to him, I swear… “ - shutting her eyes and fists tightly, as if trying to mute the increasing number of curses itching to pour out. The smallest of the sisters hissed through gritted teeth then, making a loud ghastly noise.

-”Calm down, Maeve”- the other woman said placing a warm hand over her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze - “We are on public now, try tone down a little bit.”-

-” **_My_ ** brother got killed and **_I_ ** have all the right of the world to be pissed off!”- brushing the woman’s hand with a brisk movement, she pulled away, The braided girl kneeled down carefully and placed a white-gloved hand over one of the hundred framed pictures of her sibling. His smile was dazzling and she couldn’t stop another obstinate tear to fall down her right cheek - “You wouldn’t understand”- 

-”We are here to preserve his legacy as a hero”- mimicking her actions, she kneeled as well and placed a bright red rose nearby- “And of course I understand... he was my brother as well, we can’t measure or compare our love. He loved us all equally and you know it. His heart was that big.“- sorrowful as her voice might be, truth was that both knew that wasn’t true. He had always had a clear favorite, he even mentioned a few times before how his attention was caught by a certain someone. There was no more room for them when he began to disappear for days, even weeks, with no way of tracking him.

After a few seconds of silence, the girl named Maeve stood up and spun around to face the crowd, then took a deep breath to calm herself, and shouted: -”Thank you all for coming today, to remember our dearest brother.”- some phone flashes began to twinkle randomly on the mass of a crowd she had in front of her. Fighting off an annoyed expression, Golden Wind did her best to keep her composure.

-”We assure you, we will find the responsible behind this, but in the meantime, we will be on charge of protecting this area and all its citizens. You can count on us!” - everyone cheered, visibly excited, but she shushed them raising her left hand, soon all the assistants quieted down. -”My brother was… he still is, one of the best heroes that ever existed on...- “- 

Suddenly, she was interrupted by a very loud, **and very fake** , maniacal laugh. 

It was so strong and obnoxious. It echoed well enough to be heard all over the square until it became stronger, as the owner of said laugh started walking towards both sisters. Slowly, Maeve turned around and clenched her tiny fists. She could feel her nails piercing all the way through her gloves and into her palms, but she didn’t care much, Who was the idiot who dared to feel joy on a day like this? Just as if someone had read her mind, Demencia emerged within the thick mass of people, with the huge blue bear following her steps. The animal was trying to drag her back from they came from to no avail, since to him it was impossible to stop her when she got into her swaying destructive moods. People around them moved aside like they were trying to avoid the plague. Some parents immediately carried their children away.

-”HAH”- smacking loudly her right knee she kept forcing the laughter out of her lungs, supporting herself with the help of 5.0.5, who looked at her as if she had lost her marbles. Maybe she was insane after all...Taking a few large steps she continued.

-“Sorry! Sorry! For a second I thought I heard someone calling this asshole “one of the best heroes”! Ain’t that funny, 5.0.5?” - giving another fake laugh and wiping a non-existent tear, Demencia slowly stopped and her tone changed into a menacing one, her eye defiant. Spitting on the ground and giving both females a menacing glare, she spat -”What a fucking joke. “-

What happened next was so quick, she couldn’t actually see it. 

The scales peppering the body of the taller woman exploded as she opened up her arms, growing at a vertiginous speed. Once they assembled together, the silhouette of large ivory-pearled bones was unmistakable. Thick on the base but slowly dividing in complex patterns, it looked as heavy as it was beautiful. The thin membrane in between looked frail in comparison of the rest of the sturdy, yet strangely entrancing wings. 

The sight was mesmerizing, _hypnotizing_ even. 

Like a moth being attracted to the light, Demencia couldn’t pull her eyes away even if she wanted to, she couldn’t even blink. By the time she realized those wings were being whipped violently towards her, it was too late to move aside or even duck. Before the teen could even raise her arms up to brace herself,  a flash of bright baby blue shielded her, flying forcibly to her right side when the impact landed. Demencia could only manage to turn her head to see her partner whining painfully, his paws trying to cover up the now bright red bruise that crossed his whole middle. 5.0.5 had jumped forward and took the blow right into his tummy, a trail of dust barely visible now was the only prove that Charm had successfully landed her hit, otherwise it would have looked like a raft of wind knocked the giant bear. A sudden wave of rage woke up her body, her blood started to boil with anger and adrenaline.

-”If I were you, I would shut up and apologize. Right. Now.”- Maeve had to recognize, her sister had the best reflexes she’d ever seen till this day. It came pretty handy when stuff like this happened. **Scum had to learn their place.** People around them started running away, while others pulled out their phones and begun recording everything, trying to get the best shot without interfering the upcoming fight.

Starting a brawl wasn’t exactly what Demencia was looking for. Her original intention was to just cause some anonymous ruckus, drawing some floppy dicks on all the main billboards at best, but as soon as she heard the girl talking about how great James was... something inside her triggered. Those words were going to be how the next generations would remind him. He would be buried as a heroic bastard, and no one would ever know… about his experiments on the cellar, about all those poor girls… about her. 

It was a relief when she saw her furry friend slowly standing up, with a bright aura surrounding his whole frame. The red bruise began to disappear, and a few seconds later it was gone. As if it never happened. He then gave a little whine, pointing his snout towards Demencia, which she assumed was his way of letting her know he was alright. She made a mental note to give 5.0.5 plenty of belly rubs later on. Before she could measure the words that slipped out of her lips, the damage was already done -”I have NOTHING to be sorry for”- making a fist with her left hand she almost growled -” **Your** slutty sister owes **my** **partner** an apology”-

-”Are you trying to defile the name of our family? Of our brother?- Charm spoke slowly, each word rolling out of her tongue with a hint of strain on her voice - “I won’t repeat myself again, apologize”- giving a small  bat with her wings as a silent warning, she scowled - “I won’t miss a second time.”-

-”If beating up those who won’t fight back is the way _your_ people get others to do what you want, then you are no hero!”- glancing around, she yelled towards some of the people that were still within voice range - “This chick just smacked an indefense animal and you are all gonna let it slide?!”-

Just as the woman was about to reply, Maeve extended one of her hands as a signal to step back. The crowd surrounding them, despite being scarce, were holding up their phones and whispering to each other. She knew they could easily make her submit with brute force,  but that would look awful on the media. Heroes were, almost entirely, pacifists, and they needed all the good reputation they could get. After all, their plan couldn’t move forward if the citizen didn’t collaborate voluntarily.

-”You came here, insulted the memorial of our brother, now my sister. Of course we are obligated to respond back. The likes of your kind probably don't understand any of  it since villainous deeds know no honor. And that _thing_ over there”- using her chin to point towards 5.0.5 she gave him a disgusted look - “Is no _indefense animal,_ it’s easily 6 foot tall, a beast.”-

-”Takes a beast to acknowledge another one, amite right?” - 

-”It has claws and odd fur”-

-”He also has a friggin’ daisy on his head!”-

-”That’s it. Your are done speaking.”- pulling a silver badge out of her inner coat pocket, she recited in a monotonous tone -”Here by I, the heroine known as Golden Wind, accuse you of minor vandalism, disrespecting a public agent of justice and illegal exotic animal possession. I will now take you to the nearest police station so they can punish you according to this city laws. You have the right to remain silent until…”-

-”Cut the crap”- the villain interrupted -”The way you and your freaky sister are acting speaks nothing about justice. You are just glorified bullies who think they can walk all over people just because the rest got the short stick on the evolutionary chain”- a smug grin appeared on her face, the last words she added with venom dripping out of her lips -”Besides, I can smell the friggin’ thirst you both have for James´ dick from here. I bet you are not even his real sisters.”

The braided girl immediately barked -”ENOUGH!”-

Both sisters took a step forward and raised their heads high, almost as if they could read their minds to coordinate their moves. Suddenly, Demencia felt like a small cornered animal. The ravenette could sense a strong presence surrounding her whole body.  Just the mere act of holding the sisters staring was titanic, and a few seconds after the smallest of the two removed her goggles, she couldn’t even look at them anymore. Maeve’s eyes were shining, menacing, a bright white that made their pupils dissolve into pure light.

Cold sweat started running Demencia’s back, her forearms started forming goosebumps and had to clench her teeth to stop them from cackling. What was all this? It was like having a giant force pressing her directly into her shoulders, increasing the gravity around her and compelling her into an uncomfortable bow. 

This was too much pressure.

**Literally.**

She was being overpowered with ease by a mere glance, the gravity force increased so rapidly she feared her bones would break. Using her elbows to keep her face from kissing the soiled pavement, she tried looking to her sides to see how her partner was holding up. However, what she saw was how civilians, who probably stayed behind unable to reach a safer location, were already flat-facing the ground. Children and grown-ups alike, wincing in pain and unable to break themselves free. Were they even aware of the range of their power? One thing was punishing her, albeit, she did kind of deserve it after the whole spitting thing, but this was excessive. 5.0.5 was still lying on his belly, but he didn’t look intimidated, whatsmore, his fur was sticking out much like a cat’s when they felt threatened, his pupils dilated and his usually smooth rosy snout now revealed jagged fangs. He looked ready to pounce.

_“Animal instinct? ”_

Even if she could stand up and run towards him to help out, she wouldn't make it. One of them had a mutation of some sorts and the other one, well, it was yet to be seen. She had never heard about any of them before. Where they both new heroes? Her brain started cooking up hundreds of possible way outs of this situation at high speed...but it was useless. Alone she didn’t stand any chances of coming even slightly victorious. She wasn’t special. She could try to use her fists but against someone with supernatural powers... 

_“WEaKliNG”_

She was really a fool.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to run some errands had somehow turned into a small camp war, and while she initially had some fun venting out her frustration directly towards the family of her abuser, the fact that they were superhumans changed everything. Of course his cursed siblings would be as rotten, egocentric and dismissive as he once in life were. It was that air of superiority they both had what pissed her off the most. Sure, they were most likely blessed with powerful skills, however, that didn't give them the right to smack around people, or animals for the matter, with no chance to defend themselves. Demencia had to admit, she had let her emotions take the best of her temper and now not only was she in a pinch, but she had also dragged 5.0.5 and Flug into it.

Wait. Where the hell was Flug?!

-”I hope this teaches a lesson, runt”- The taller woman spoke first, her concealed eyes darting towards her sister. Maeve slowly closed her peepers and pinched the bridge of her nose a few seconds. Activating the _golden halo_ always gave her a big headache afterwards -”Do not mess with the Golden stripe.”-  slowly, Charm raised her left hand towards the teen as if she was about to cast something above her,

Demencia could only pray that by some divine chance, she would miss her vitals.

-”Don’t move miss, or I will shoot!”- The woman halted, and slowly raised both of her hands. Behind her, Flug was pointing at her head  with a sci fi looking gun. His hands were shaking,as well as his legs, but his stance was the one of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if the situation called for it.  Maeve turned around with the intention to get rid of her sister’s captor but Demencia caught her attention shouting something she had been storing deep inside of her for a while now:

-”James was a little piece of shit and had a small dick!”- 

As soon as those words rolled out of her tongue, she kind of regretted them. It wasn't because she felt bad for addressing their sibling into such foul fashion, no. If anything, Demencia would repeat it as loud and often as she could for the rest of her life. What made her resolution flake were the murderous looks she got from both heroic figures. If looks could kill, theirs would have very well drilled holes into her body. Something akin to fear woke up a set of gooseflesh she didn't think she had, which made her slowly take a few steps back. 

The taller of the two was livid, her lips tightly pressing against each other until it formed a flat line. Maeve’s cheeks turned into a brilliant crimson in a matter of seconds, her droopy eyes morphing into a furious scowl.

-”YOU BASTARD!”- Her voice was similar to a roar, her eyes burning bright with tears of rage. Running towards the ravenette, ripping away her gloves with her teeth and leaping with inhuman strength, she shouted -”I’M GOING TO KILL YOU” - Immediately after, she took a deep breath and filled her lungs to their max, expanding her ribcage into inhuman proportions and then reeled in a clenched fist. Her other hand exposed a palm with small holes carved into it, the other female noticed, and distinguished a hive pattern that made Demencia cringe in absolute disgust. As Maeve began to fall down, all the air she had stored began to release, noticeable only because the size of her upper half deflated once more into its normal size. 

She calculated she could dodge her attack easily, it would probably take moving a little bit to the left, that should be enough to let her crash into the ground and give plenty of room for her to counter back, but when she tried to set her plan into motion, her feet wouldn’t respond.

-”What the …?!”- 

Her eyes darted down, realizing that one of her sneakers sole frosted and glued effectively into the ground. Without wasting time, she slid her feet off her footwear just in time before a loud crash could land mere inches from where she was currently at. As the gust of dirt and dust dispelled, the female henchman's mind began to run wild. Demencia was pretty sure winter wasn’t that cold yet, she didn’t saw snow or anything similar on her way here to actually frost people’s shoes, and even if it were, it didn't take a genius to tell that it wasn't natural to get frost trapped in a matter of seconds.

-”...”- looking at her exposed socked feet she concluded this was probably her super ability in action. And if she didn't figure out how it worked asp, she was most certainly **screwed.**

-”Not feeling so brave now, huh?”- raising her gaze, she saw the braided girl was still bent down with her fist buried on the now fragmented pavement. If she hadn’t dodged that attack, Demencia was pretty sure her brains would be scattered all over the street. The impact zone was small, but the damage done was considerable. 

\- “Let’s skip the introductions, I don’t really care who you are or how do you know my brother’s name. It won't matter once I’m **done** with you.” - looking over her shoulder, she spoke before filling her lungs to the brim once more - “Lilith, stop playing games and friggin’ finish them!”- 

Flug never saw it coming, mostly because his attention was fixed on keeping 5.05 cover. Fieldwork was not his strong suit, and facing 2 high ranked heroes wasn’t the best scenario to gain some experience on his lacking hand to hand combat skills. While he was distracted, the taller woman addressed as Lilith grew under her skirt a tail made of the same bone-like material as her wings, and swiped it against his kneecaps to make him lose his balance. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger as he fell face first into the concrete surface, releasing a bright green goo substance towards her. The woman covered herself with her wings and forearms in a reflex, gritting her teeth tightly, bracing for the unknown outcome. 

It smacked her with a wet _thwack_. But nothing happened. 

-”Crap!”- dropping his weapon, he started running towards 5.0.5, who was panicking and clearly at a loss of what he should do. Demencia decided not to trail after him. If she made both of them an even bigger target then they will never stand a chance for sure. Instead, she leaped towards Maeve’s exposed back and attached herself to her like a spider monkey. Immediately, the hero tried to shake the demented henchman away, but her forearms caught her throat, while the other one forced her to keep her hived patterned palm pointing towards the sky.

However, she didn’t expect her to bite her in retaliation. Maeve attempted to free herself to no avail, the ravenette was really showing how much strength she had on her upper body. Demencia hissed, feeling the familiar lukewarm liquid already running all the way to her elbow. The pain would be manageable only for a few more seconds, she had to come up with a better plan once she couldn’t stand the stinging of the female’s canines anymore.

She then screamed to Flug -”You came to help us with a fucking snot weapon?!”-

While he was rolling over on the ground, trying to avoid Charm’s tail whiplashes, he managed to yell back sarcastically -”Oh, excuse me!”- he threw his arms in the air dramatically -”I left my laser gun on my other pair of pants!”-

 

* * *

 

Inside the Black Hat household, his demonic owner was trying to fix himself a cup of coffee. Usually, he would pick his own beans and grind them manually, but he was not in the mood for that. Right now he just wanted to take a sip out of the bitter beverage to calm his cravings and resume his daily duties. 

He had a small nap after Demencia interrupted him with her random shenanigans and felt a bit more rested. At least good enough to keep going until supper. Glancing around, everything seemed in order. The dishes were already done, the counter and main table were polished, and everything was so quiet that the soothing sound of the beans being slowly crushed could be heard clearly. It reminded him of small baby skulls being ….

**_Wait._ **

It was so quiet he could hear coffee beans being crushed by an _electrical_ machine?

Before he could think about anything else, the main landline phone of the house started ringing. Black Hat ignored it for the first 2 bells. It was 5.0.5’s task to answer and scare off all those annoying salesmen who wanted to lure him into buying brooms, vacuums or health insurance for his employee. However, no one seemed to be around to answer it, and the echoing sound was starting to irritate him. He could already feel a new headache blossoming.  Growling, he dragged himself away from his coffee to the main hallway by the living room and picked up the glossy black receiver of his vintage telephone, which was resting on a small glass table.

-”As per usual, I end up doing everything around here...”- he hissed to himself. The suited entity would make sure to punish his servants thoroughly as soon as they dared to show their ugly mugs. Before he could even ask who in Devil’s name was calling this early in the morning, a high pitched squeal ringed through his nonexistent ears, which he was sure that if he had any, they would be bleeding by now.

-”Yo! Hatter! What was _holding_ you up??!”- a fit of giggles followed, the boy on the other side of the line sounded like he just injected himself with pure raw sugar. Black Hat just sighed in annoyance. This kid, who insisted to go by the code name of “Saturday”, was his newest informant and proved himself trusty enough to get his residence phone number, but sometimes he just called to make stupid puns or scream about how galaxy unicorns were always tracking his mental waves and rambled an awful lot about a whole other bunch of things equally absurd. The black-suited entity ended the call.

The ringing started again and against all fiber of his being, he picked up. 

-”What’s wrong, boss? Did your phone just die? Will you make a _reception_??”- 

Black Hat hung up again. 

Once more, the phone chimed to life, and even when he was feeling really, really, **really** tempted to send through the electric cables a banshee spirit, he took a deep breath before answering the call. “Saturday” always gave the best tips related to the underground market and he didn’t want to risk any possible future business, sadly this sort of relationship required Black Hat to endure his bothersome behavior. Pulling the handset towards his mouth, he hissed dangerously:

-”You better have a good reason for all this incessant pestering, boy,”-

-”What, my jokes ain’t _phon-y?_ ”-

-”I know where you live, and I can extinguish your life with my thumb”-

-”Such a buzz killer!” - the boy shuffled and placed his phone on his glass desk after pressing the speaker mode, setting it nearby one of his 3 keyboards. Glancing at the several monitors before him, he grinned revealing sharp canines- ”Have you checked the news channel yet? I bet you have, you crazy madman, this has to be your idea! It screams “Black Hat Inc” all over!! And to think I was about to drop my subscription to your catalog!”- grabbing a forgotten soda can, he sipped some of its content, but the lack of frizz and overly sweet flavor made the boy realize it had been probably sitting on his desk for more than half a week now. Making a gagging noise, he threw it on the nearest bin. Blowing a raspberry, a few strands of his untamed white bangs parted away, granting him a better view of his precious monitors. - “Oh man, you are going to get so many customers after this, I might have to raise my fee!”-

-”Speak clearly, all your babbling is making no sense to me, what is this thing you are talking about?”-

 “Turn on the TV! Quickly! Before the fight ends!! Flug is kicking ass!” - 

Turning around towards the living area, he snapped his fingers to command a regular sized plasma TV to roll down with his powers. Black and red fume swirled around the electronic to adjust it, and with another snap he channeled the signal of the local news. Flug? That skinny nerd? Kicking someone else’s posterior?

The first thing he could see after the cameraman finally managed to steady his shaky movements, was the image of  Flug dodging, quite skillfully, while screaming at what seemed to be a woman with ivory wings and tail. Another female pushed him out of the way, making both of them fall into the ground in what seemed a terribly uncomfortable embrace. He immediately recognized Demencia’s horrible fashion sense as soon as she got into the shot, trying to land kicks and punches while bleeding profusely of what seemed a serious wound. The person recording was breathing heavily and trying to get a better angle without getting too close to the action. The image was then minimized and placed on the top corner of the channel’s screen, and the conductor of the program appeared with a set of loose papers on his hands. 

-”As you can see, multiple civilians located in the main plaza are still trying to evacuate the area. Our correspondents are there, in the middle of the action of what it seems a confrontation between the Golden Duo and some sort of lunatics who might or might not be part of some criminal gang. More to come after this break!”- Black Hat was rendered speechless, his face devoid of any expression. Although the melting spot under his feet where his expensive Persian rug used to be was an accurate indicator of what sort of emotions were brewing inside of him.

-“This is so cool! It’s all over the Internet! It’s being streamed live so this is some real life classic Good vs Evil showdown, it’s the number one trend on TweetIt!”- letting out a dark chuckle, he added -“You never told me you got a _female_ henchman!”- a wolf whistle left his lips- “Damn she is hot!”-

However, all of this was lost to its receptor, since the phone handset had been crumbled under the deathly grip of its owner a long time ago.


End file.
